
Glass 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



ADOLESCENCE AND 

HIGH-SCHOOL 

PROBLEMS 



BY 

RALPH W. PRINGLE 

PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL 
ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY 



D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 




5' 



.Yi 



Copyright, 1922, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 

2 K 2 



PRINTED IN U.S.A. 

JUN 12 1922 

©CI.A674565 



# 



# 

PREFACE 

This book had its origin in a course which was organized a 
few years ago for prospective high-school teachers and princi- 
pals. The author taught the course to an increasing number of 
students in the Teachers College of the Illinois State Normal 
University; and the material here presented continues to meet 
the interests and needs of the class of students for whom it was 
planned. 

The discussions offered are not the result of original investi- 

Aons in the field of secondary education. The aim has been 
^ , produce a book that will be helpful to any one who expects 
t-. do high-school work and to all others who are responsible 
fc the welfare of adolescents. The table of contents shows 
that while there has been no attempt at completeness, the sub- 
It cs chosen for treatment include such matters as all experi- 
eo ed workers in the field of secondary education will recognize 
a • vital. It is hoped that the book will be of practical rather 
t'\ .n theoretical interest. The author has always had in mind 
••" ' boys and girls and concrete situations. The book is based 
on more than twenty years' experience as principal of public 
high schools and nine years in training young men and women 
for high-school positions. The experience and observation of 
many writers and co-workers have been drawn upon with free- 
dom, but constant acknowledgment is not deemed practical. 

The plan of the book is simple: it attempts to describe the 
nature of boys and girls of high-school age; then, in the light 
of this knowledge of adolescence, it seeks solutions for various 
problems growing out of high-school teaching and management. 
No attempt is made to deal with teaching problems as such. 
In all the discussions, it is assumed that the development of 

ill 



iv PREFACE jg|^ 

the youth, rather than what he expecB /^TwIPirnishes the safest 
and most practical basis for the sel^ion of educational ma- 
terial and the determination of educational methods. It would 
seem that both the new psychology and the new sociology teach 
us that, while giving attention to the future of our high-school 
pupils, we should not neglect their present interests and needs, 
and that the only way to give them training in general social 
efficiency is through specific, concrete practice. It is hoped 
that there is always manifest in these discussions "democratic 
respect for the individual;" to miss this would be to lose sight 
of one of the most significant teachings of the psychology of 
adolescence. 

The reader will find each chapter complete in itself; but 
there has been a serious attempt to secure a real unity through- 
out the book. This unity it is hoped is brought about by the 
maintenance of the viewpoint already described. 

It must be admitted that the one who at present publishes 
anything on certain phases of secondary education is guilty of 
considerable temerity. Educational ideals are ever changing; 
but the present is understood by all students of education to be 
a period profoundly transitional. The social and economic 
unrest of the years immediately preceding the great war, 
together with many other causes, greatly disturbed the educa- 
tional thinking of the country and occasionally the practice; 
and the war, with its exposures and consequences, has still 
further troubled the educational waters. Moreover, it is in 
the field of secondary education especially that new policies 
are manifest and a fundamental reorganization is already in 
progress. 

If we are to judge by the utterances of the more advanced 
thinkers, the high-school curriculum is little more than a 
flux, and many of the traditional methods are either being 
seriously questioned or wholly rejected. In the present instance, 
however, there may be comfort in the thought that, although 



PREFACE V 

educational theories iSe rapidly changing (like the individual 
adolescent), yet, as a race phenomenon, adolescence tomorrow 
will in all essentials be like the adolescence of today; hence, 
if the conclusions drawn from studies of this interesting and 
baffling period are logical, the following chapters will not 
immediately become antiquated. Of at least one thing the 
author feels certain: much that is here recommended will meet 
with the approval of many high-school boys and girls. 

The reader, as well as myself , is under obligation to my wife, 
Lillian Smith Pringle, for her careful reading of the proof, her 
many helpful suggestions, and her encouraging interest in the 
success of this book. 

The book is dedicated to all who are youthful in spirit and 
enter sympathetically and enthusiastically into the work and 
play of those in whose interest it has been written and to all 
who believe that the joyous days of youth are rich in possi- 
bilities for future manhood and womanhood. 

Normal, III., 1922. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Methods of Solving Educational Problems. . i 

Solution of educational problems — psychological and 
sociological; relative value of two methods; progress in 
secondary education; function of adolescent psychology; 
understanding of youth; social administration; plan 
of the book. 

II. Preadolescence 7 

Periods of human development; preadolescence a 
natural approach to adolescence; physical character- 
istics; mental traits; social characteristics; gang hfe; 
fads; games; non-social proclivities; sex; morality; 
personality; savagery; recapitulation theory; practical 
conclusions; health; stories and traditions; outdoor 
nature; methods; twofold life. 

PART I — PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 
III. General Survey 22 

I Significance of adolescence; adolescence and primitive 

'^" peoples; Romans; knighthood; churches; literature 

and art; formative period; difficulties and dangers in 
study of adolescence; questionnaire method; "new 
birth;" series of crises; personality; stages of de- 
velopment — early, middle, late adolescence. 

' IV. Physiological Changes and Characteristics 40 

Maturing of sex functions; signs of adolescence; 
growth — height, weight, bones, muscles, heart, lungs, 
brain; health; breathing and voice; diet; science and 
common-sense. 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

f V. Mental Growth and Reconstruction 58 

4.-^ Physical maturity and mental growth; new attitudes; 

sexual life; sex characters; charms and fetishes, 
migratory instincts; development of senses; love; 
thought awakening, reverie; practical conclusions. 

VI. Social Characteristics and their Import. . . 88 

\ Social environment; adolescents hetero-centric; social 

instincts — gregariousness, sympathy, love of approba- 
tion, altruism; personality; social efficiency; social 
conformity. 

UVII. Moral Aspects 98 

Adolescent a moral being; new wildness; moral differ- 
ences; unrest; criminal out-croppings; antisocial acts 
— adventures, truancy, incorrigibility, anger, fighting, 
cruelty, steaUng, lying; commercialization of adolescent 
nature; ideals — origin, nature, struggle; moral evolu- 
tion; personal influence. 



PART II — HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

VIII. Transition to the Secondary School — 

Junior High School 126 

(i) Problem and its solution; (ii) psychological basis of 
junior high school; (iii) history of movement; (iv) 
definition, determined by nature of early adolescent; 
(v) curriculum, subject-matter, methods, propositions 
concerning curriculum, curriculum making, program of 
studies; (vi) methods; (vii) teachers; (viii) organiza- 
tion, administration, cost; (ix) building, equipment, 
text-books; (x) functions. 

IX. The American High-school Group 16S 

Heterogeneous nature; growth; social status; expecta- 
tions of pupils; age; general intelligence; advisory 
system; conferences; supervised study. 



CONTENTS IX 

CHAPTER PAGE 

X. The Curriculum 177 

(i) Curriculum the storm center, curriculum making, 
shifting ideals, no ideal curriculum; (ii) qualifications 
of curriculum maker; (iii) purpose, scope, function, 
responsibility; (iv) forces leading to curriculum changes, 
new definitions, the trend; (v) general principles of 
curriculum making; (vi) individual natures, social 
outlook, Committee of Ten, a rich and changing cur- 
riculum, selective dev ces, history of curriculum, the cur- 
riculum system, majors, minors, constants; (vii) type 
curriculums, curriculum differentiation; (viii) admin- 
istration, curriculum thinking. 

' XL Social Activities 213 

Functions; social education; organizing tendencies; 
three policies of faculty; two demands; leadership, 
cooperation, loyalty, moral training; pleasure; habits; 
faculty adviser; organizations; dancing, dramatics; 
credits. 

XII. Literary Societies 232 

Forms of expression; functions; extemporary speak- 
ing; subjects; learning to speak; organization. 

XIII. Debating 248 

(i) Brain development, new instincts and powers, 
dangers in debating; (ii) management, reasoning ^' 
power, initiative, judgment, poise, concentration, 
meaning of proof, fair play, leadership, cooperation, 
effort required; (iii) faculty adviser, debating clubs, 
instruction; (iv) interschool debating, regulations, 
benefits. 

XrV. High-School Journalism 268 

Effort necessary; functions; benefits; problems; staff; 
faculty adviser; diflficulties; responsibility. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XV. Athletics 277 

(i) Necessary, attitudes of faculty; (ii) psychology, 
influence of athletics, adolescence and athletics; (iii) 
evils and dangers not inherent; (iv) coaching, faculty 
cooperation; (v) suitable high-school games; (vi) 
management, principal's duties, scientific demands. 

XVI. Pupil Finance 302 

Business training; temptations of adolescents; a plan 
and its workings. 

XVII. Assembly 307 

Esprit de corps; demands of assembly programs — 
interesting, instructive, inspiring; a social affair; 
cooperation; illustrations; time and length of period. 

XVIII. Sex Education 317 

DijQ&cult and dehcate subject; purpose of chapter; 
dangers; normal life processes emphasized; methods 
of appeal; timing instruction; preadolescence; the 
teacher; the information needed; knowledge not 
enough; methods; school's responsibility. 

Xrx. Moral Education 335 

Sex and morality; morality and adolescence; teaching 
morality; psychological and social aspects; con- 
science; imagination; social origin of morals; condi- 
tions; subconscious self; no spiritual gifts; life and 
character; moral ideas and ideas about morality; 
social-pyschology treatment; incidental instruc- 
tion; rules; punishments; school studies; moral edu- 
cation. 

XX. Principles and Methods of Appeal 352 

Knowledge of human nature; (i) appreciation; (2) 
square deal; (3) honor and "honor systems;" (4) 
adolescent code of honor; (5) unity of the individual; 
(6) spirit of democracy; (7) freedom; (8) conduct and 
character; (9) loyalty as a motive — strongest, safest, 
and most effective; appHcation; personal leadership. 



ADOLESCENCE AND 
HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 



INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER I 

METHODS OF SOLVING EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 

There are two ways of determining educational procedure 
concerning questions of either method or material. « One is by 
a careful study of the nature and personal needs of the one to 
be educated; the other is by focusing attention upon the eco- 
nomic and social outlook of the one to be educated. Accord- 
ing to the first, when methods of teaching, school administra- 
tion, and management of social activities are under consider- 
ation, or when the content of the curriculum is in question, we 
iconcentrate upon the pupils, and, by a scientific and sympa- 
thetic study of their physical, mental, social, and moral char- 
acteristics, try to determine what method and what subject- 
matter will most strongly appeal to their interests and most 
closely fit their needs; this is the psychological mode of at- 
tacking educational problems. According to the second way, 
when matters pertaining to method and content are to be settled, 
we turn our thoughts toward the community from which the 
pupils come and to which they will return, and, by a close and 
exhaustive study of its nature and needs, attempt to learn what 
social and industrial services it will demand of the pupils when 
they leave school; this is the sociological mode of solving edu- 



2 ADOLESCENCE 

cational problems. The first method of solution, when applied 
to high-school problems, trusts our increasing knowledge of 
adolescence; and the second depends upon our tightening grasp 
of the fundamental principles of social economy. The first is 
dominated by reverence for the individual's tastes and talents, 
the second makes the requirements of the civilization into which 
the individual was born the determining factors. One method 
exalts individuality as the end toward which all educational 
efforts must tend, the other glorifies the composite spirit of 
society and makes its needs the end. 

Both of these methods of solving educational problems are 
considered scientific and modern. Each has its disciples, and 
the influence of one or both is traceable in all recent educational 
writing and discussion. Just now it would appear that the 
demands of society, in the broader sense of the term, are upper- 
most in the minds of a majority of educational experts*; as 
witness, the ever recurring phrase "social efficiency" and its 
like, in which it would seem that this proposed aim of education 
implies that the schools are to make the pupils efficient for the 
sake of society. However, the relative merits and validity of 
these two ways of determining educational procedure are not 
under discussion here. Whatever may be their relative values 
as criteria, the discussions and attempted solutions of high-* 
school problems which follow are, controlled largely by psycho-^ 
logical considerations. These will certainly furnish workable 
and vaHd tests; if a single viewpoint is maintained, our study 
of the problems here considered will gain in unity. 

There is little doubt that thus far child psychology has in- 
fluenced the pedagogy of the elementary school much more 
profoundly than adolescent psychology has modified secondary 
education. For this state of affairs there are at least two reas- 
ons: first, the psychology of adolescence, although concerned 
with the most interesting and formative phase of human devel- 
opment, is not yet so definitely formulated as the psychology 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 3 

of childhood, there being the utmost variance of opinion and 
emphasis on many important points respecting adolescent 
nature, due partly, as we shall see, to the inherent difficulty 
of the subject, and partly to the methods of study which have 
prevailed; second, the field of modern secondary education 
has not yet been so thoroughly worked as that of elementary 
education, the latter having long possessed a considerable body 
of experimentally determined pedagogical principles, which 
have been fairly well confirmed by practice. In secondary edu- 
cation the pedagogical outlook is unsettled and the lines are 
still shifting, due, it seems to the author, to the lack of a psycho- 
logical basis. From the very nature of the case, much light will 
be thrown on all high-school problems when we have reliable 
information concerning the nature of youth; it seems to be a 
fundamental principle in our thinking to judge the needs of 
any institution or individual by its nature, by the laws of its 
being; our remarkable success in dealing with plants and the 
lower animals has come from an intimate knowledge in each 
case of their life history. There is full agreement that the school 
is for the pupil, then let us study the pupil, and by so doing 
make the school deal with him according to his nature and 
needs. 

The question as to what extent the study of psychology func- 
tions in the work of the teacher and school administrator has 
often been discussed. The answer to the question would seem 
to depend upon what phase of psychology is meant and what 
methods of study are employed. If the attention is focused 
largely on the abstract principles of the subject, and the meth- 
ods are deductive and introspective, perhaps little direct help 
will result. But this is not what is now meant by the study of 
psychology in the modern schools of education. Educational 
psychology is now applying the principle of division of labor, 
with a view to securing the most direct and first-hand knowledge 
possible concerning each period of child and adolescent develop- 



4 ADOLESCENCE 

ment. Any one who has year after year had the privilege of 
seeing successive groups of adolescent boys and girls, in their 
intercourse with each other and their grappling with the usual 
intellectual demands of high-school work, show forth the same 
characteristics and stages of development as their predecessors, 
comes to realize that he is in the presence of laws that must be 
universal and worthy of his serious attention. If this observa- 
tion of the social and mental life of adolescents is close and sym- 
pathetic, and if it is supplemented by all the skill and methods 
of research known to modern science, there surely will result a 
body of knowledge and an attitude of mind on the part of the 
observer that will greatly aid him in his solution of the many 
urgent high-school problems. A persistent effort by every 
available means to understand this rapidly changing period 
will naturally give rise to a deep interest and a keen alertness 
that must prove most helpful in discovering individual differ- 
ences and needs as well as group characteristics and require- 
ments. The student of adolescent nature soon becomes aware 
of the close relation and interaction between individual life in 
its integrity of development and social life, which is so necessary 
to this individual development; without this knowledge and 
the consequent insight, one would be helpless in dealing with 
many of the social problems involved in the management of a 
really modern high school; and one who knows youth is con- 
scious of a fortunate and helpful concurrence between the de- 
mands and ideals of the individual and of the social life. More- 
over, of the evolving of new theories, the proposing of new sub- 
jects for the curriculum, and the devising of new methods there 
is no end; the conscientious student of secondary education is 
much in need of safe criteria by which to judge the educational 
novelties as they appear. J. J. Findlay, one of the highest 
educational authorities in England, says, "Let no one suppose 
that the study of adolescence can be left out of account in 
judging of the worth of current systems of secondary education." 



EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 5 

However, it must not be expected that a knowledge of adol- 
escence will furnish ready-made rules of procedure; there must 
come between this knowledge and the successful management 
of youth the intervention of an inventive and sympathetic 
mind. As the late Professor Royce of Harvard pointed out 
many years ago, the greatest benefit that will come from such 
study is the psychological spirit and habit of mind, which lead 
to a constant and intelligent observation of the mental and 
social life of the pupils and a scientific reasoning from the data 
thus obtained. The whole on-rushing life of youth should 
supply the most reliable commentary on the many high-school 
problems as they arise. 

The problems connected with high-school teaching and man- 
agement have been variously classified. There is a class of 
problems that are practically peculiar to the modern high school, 
which may be called problems in "social administration;" 
they have come into prominence through our better knowledge 
of the close relation between the social life of the adolescent and 
his mental and moral life, and consequently through the grow- 
ing conviction that secondary education in the last analysis is 
a social enterprise. These problems have arisen in connection 
with the social aspects of the curriculum and its administration 
and with the many and varied social activities of the modern 
high school. They are neither teaching nor administrative 
problems in the broadest sense; but they are vital problems, 
for they have to do with the individual and social life of every 
pupil, and on their wise solution will depend in a large measure 
the degree of social efficiency with which we are able to endow 
our pupils. Like other problems, their solution should be based 
on scientific knowledge; that is, their solution should rest on 
the fundamental facts thus far ascertained and the underlying 
principles thus far evolved concerning the nature of adoles- 
cence. This means, of course, parting company, as far as may 
be, with dogma and many traditions and customs; and 



6 ADOLESCENCE 

this in itself is a peculiar and often difficult process, for many 
worthy intellectual and humanitarian movements have left 
their impress on secondary education. However, the leaders of 
educational thought are generally of the opinion that the feel- 
ing of unrest concerning all phases of high-school activity 
should be interpreted as a call to advance along all lines; Dr. 
Judd believes that "the time is ripe to essay the comprehensive 
task" of applying psychology to "all high-school problems," 
particularly the special psychology of adolescence. 

The foregoing statements suggest the plan of this book. The 
chapters included in Part I furnish a brief and somewhat com- 
plete account of what is now generally believed concerning the 
psychology of adolescence; Part II is an attempt to deal with 
various important high-school problems, mostly of a social 
nature, in the light of our knowledge of adolescence. The as- 
sumption is that the psychology of the special problem in each 
case is based upon and merged into the psychology of the pu- 
pils. 



CHAPTER n 
PREADOLESCENCE 

Even a cursory survey of the entire life history of any indi- 
vidual makes us aware of how greatly the different periods of 
life differ from one another. It is true that we expect to find 
the later stretches of life's span more quiescent, more static, 
comparatively fixed and settled; even ten years at this end of 
life may seemingly bring slight change of any kind. But, 
when we turn our attention to the other periods of the individ- 
ual's growth and development, we find all is changing and chang- 
ing so rapidly that at times it appears almost impossible to 
fix upon any definite characteristics and say that these consti- 
tute the real individual under consideration; all is flux; phys- 
ical features take on new shape and proportions, and the men- 
tal and moral movements are so rapid that we have at times 
little less than continuous turmoil. All here is dynamic. The 
countless currents of life are setting, and the full nature and 
trend of the complex stream is not yet determined. 

Since so much of this book is devoted to one of these rapidly 
developing periods of life, it will be advantageous to try to 
give this period a setting. It will be helpful to pause and fo- 
cus attention for a short time upon that most interesting and 
unique period just preceding adolescence. This will form a 
natural and helpful approach to our study of adolescence; the 
purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to give a brief account of 
the characteristics, tendencies, and educational possibilities of 
that period of childhood extending from the ages of eight or 
nine to twelve and known generally as preadolescence. Joseph 
Lee has well named it the Big Injun Age. 

7 



8 ADOLESCENCE 

This period of childhood is characterized by the greatest 
physical activities, and these activities are the most varied; 
the waking moments are filled with almost continuous move- 
ment, and wiggling seems to be the law of living. Health is 
about at its best. Physical growth is slower now than at any 
other time during the first eighteen or twenty years; beginning 
with birth, the rate of growth rapidly decreases until preadoles- 
cence, when it sometimes almost stops. Thus it is a period 
of much stability, due in part at least to relative balance be- 
tween assimilation and expenditure; and it is a time when the 
individual shows nearly perfect adaptation to environment. 
The boys and girls are now able to resist all kinds of unfavorable 
conditions; their power of endurance is great; both boys and 
girls are at the height of their physical buoyancy; and vitality 
according to all tests runs high. And, strange to say, although 
not fully developed, the brain reaches at the end of this period 
nearly its full size and weight. Thus we have during this period 
of preadolescence a being wonderfully efl&cient, when judged 
on a purely physical basis, perhaps more nearly perfect in the 
way it functions and rapidly adjusts itself to new conditions 
than at any other time of life. 

The story on the mental side is also interesting. The power 
of perception is remarkably acute; and the child, especially 
the boy, is so bent on using this power that books are readily put 
aside and reading often becomes very distasteful. At this time 
the poet's injunction, "away to the fields," meets with eager 
response. A boy sometimes can take you to a hundred birds' 
nests, and of these he has a more intimate and vital knowledge 
than many a bookworm has of his books. A study of this 
period shows that memory is quick, the percentage of error is 
small, and facts and impressions are lasting. As distinguished 
from the previous four years of the child's life, it is an age of 
prose. The preadolescent is not interested in fairies or their 
doings; and the many mak^-believe activities of the previous 



PREADOLESCENCE 



9 



dramatic period are suddenly and vigorously put aside. The 
automatic powers are at their best, the reactions are immediate. 
Thus it is the golden age for drill and discipline. 

It is well to note that the elements of knowledge, which the 
preadolescent so rapidly and willingly acquires, are more or 
less without content to him while he is acquiring them, with 
the important exception of what he gets from outdoor nature 
and what comes to him in the form of suitable story. 

Although he is not at all poetical, his visual imagination is 
vivid and grasps its object firmly. Reason is only slightly de- 
veloped, in many cases little more than foreshadowed. Real 
insight and understanding in the narrow sense are only begin- 
ning. The preadolescent gets much pleasure from collecting all 
kinds of objects (many of them entirely useless) and swapping 
them with other collectors of his kind. The collecting is rarely 
in any sense scientific, but seems to be done merely to satisfy 
the desire for possession; all observers are familiar with the bulg- 
ing pockets of the grammar-school boy. The interest in these 
collections and the value placed upon them are both, of course, 
very transient. The interest of the child in mechanical puzzles 
culminates at about eleven years. Thus the mental life of 
the preadolescent is lived on a concrete basis; he is interested 
in things tangible and deals successfully with them if he finds 
them in his immediate environment. Much of this success 
is doubtless due to his ready power of imitation; girls are 
more imitative and are less general in their interests than 
boys. 

Much of the preadolescent 's keen objective interest doubtless 
arises from the feeling that he must "bang himself up against 
the world," as some one has expressed it, "and see what it and 
he himself is made of;" in fact it is the only way he can gain a 
knowledge of himself and his surroundings, and knowledge he 
must have. Moreover, he is satisfied if he can learn merely 
how the world runs; later he will philosophize about the run- 



lO ADOLESCENCE 

ning; now the facts are sufficient, later he will demand the 
theories which organize the facts. 

The social characteristics of this period differ in a very marked 
way from the period that follows. Life at this time is naturally 
and decidedly individualistic. The preadolescent is ego-centric, 
always looking out for "number one;" he is likely to be un- 
sympathetic and regardless of others; with him self-preserva- 
tion is, indeed, the first law of nature. The altruistic symp- 
toms which he may show are, when really understood, largely 
imitative. It is true that the preadolescent develops a life 
of his own outside of the home circle. His social tendencies 
are shown in the formation of the gang, in his adherence to 
its laws, and in conforming to its spirit. But in all this he is 
really self-centered; gang life and spirit appeal to him because 
of what they bring to him in personal satisfaction; and one 
gang is readily and unsentimentally exchanged for another 
when circumstances favor. This is the tribal period of boyhood 
and the gang is a primitive democracy, whose principles and 
purposes must be observed by the members; and, although his 
membership is readily transferred to another gang, the boy is 
remarkably loyal to the interests and purposes of the gang as 
long as these obtain. The educative influences of the gang are 
indispensable to virile development; it is here that the boy 
gains the masculine viewpoint, which he cannot easily get 
from his home life, at least not from his nurse or mother; here 
to a certain degree his selfishness will be mitigated, when the 
give-and-take methods and customs of this tribal institution 
are brought to bear upon his natural egotism; it is very whole- 
some and necessary to learn through pretty lively contact the 
personal values and talents of other boys. 

The tendency to indulge in short-lived fads and the strength 
of mere gang spirit are vividly portrayed in Robert Louis Ste- 
venson's account of the "Lantern-Bearers;" the interest and 



PREADOLESCENCE II 

value, as illustrative of our theme, are sufficient to warrant quot- 
ing certain passages from this delightful essay. 

"Toward the end of September, when school time was draw- 
ing near, and the nights were already black, we would begin 
to sally from our respective villas, each equipped with a tin 
bull's-eye lantern. The thing was so well known that it had 
worn a rut in the commerce of Great Britain; and the grocers, 
about the due time, began to garnish their windows with our 
particular brand of luminary. We wore them buckled to the 
waist upon a cricket belt, and over them, such was the rigor of 
the game, a buttoned top-coat. They smelled noisomely of 
blistered tin. They never burned aright, though they would 
always burn our fingers. Their use was naught, the pleasure 
of them merely fanciful, and yet a boy with a bull's-eye under 
his top-coat asked for nothing more. The fishermen used lan- 
terns about their boats, and it was from them, I suppose, that 
we had got the hint; but theirs were not bull's-eyes, nor did 
we ever play at being fishermen. The police carried them at 
their belts, and we had plainly copied them in that; yet we 
did not pretend to be policemen. Burglars, indeed, we may 
have had some haunting thought of; and we had certainly an 
eye to past ages when lanterns were more common, and to 
certain story-books in which we had found them to figure very 
largely. But take it for all in all, the pleasure of the thing was 
substantive; and to be a boy with a bull's-eye under his top- 
coat was good enough for us. 

"When two of these asses met, there would be an anxious 
*Have you got your lantern?' and a gratified 'Yes!' That was 
the shibboleth, and very needful, too; for, as it was the rule 
to keep our glory contained, none could recognize a lantern- 
bearer unless (like the polecat) by the smell. Four or five 
would sometimes climb into the belly of a ten-man lugger, with 
nothing but the thwarts above them, — for the cabin was usu- 
ally locked, — or choose out some hollow of the links where the 



12 ADOLESCENCE 

wind might whistle overhead. Then the coats would be unbut- 
toned, and the bull's-eyes discovered; and the chequering glim- 
mer, under the huge, windy hall of night, and cheered by a rich 
steam of toasting tinware, these fortunate young gentlemen 
would crouch together in the cold sand of the links, or on scaly 
bilges of the fishing-boat, and delight them with inappropriate 
talk. Woe is me that I cannot give some specimens ! • • • • But 
the talk was but a condiment, and these gatherings them- 
selves only accidents in the career of the lantern-bearer." 

Stevenson goes on to say that the boys were very cold, spat 
upon by flurries of rain, and drearily surrounded; and their 
talk was silly and indecent. "To the eye of the observer they 
are wet and cold and drearily surrounded; but ask themselves, 
and they are in the heaven of a recondite pleasure, the ground 
of which is an ill-smelling lantern." 

These paragraphs from Stevenson describe with spirit and 
sympathy several boyhood characteristics and joys. From the 
sketch we understand that the preadolescent revels in the life 
and the mysterious joys of his gang; we are made to feel the 
satisfaction which comes to him from some worthless possession 
held in esteem by his congenial comrades; we learn of his ten- 
dency to imitate and take suggestions from his immediate 
surroundings, and of the influence which naturally comes to 
him from certain story-books suitable to his needs; we are 
reminded of his disregard for external discomfort if his pur- 
poses are being fulfilled; and withal we are not allowed to 
forget his proneness to silly and vulgar talk. Only a man who 
was once a real boy and retained undimmed the memory of 
his boyhood feelings and experiences could give us this vivid 
picture of the gang and its life. 

A study of the games played during this period throws much 
light on the social characteristics. These are mostly individ- 
ualistic and competitive; it is only toward the end of the period 
that truly cooperative games begin to make their appeal; the 



PREADOLESCENCE 



13 



games must give opportunity for displaying individual feats. 
Girls are less interested in cooperative games than boys; they 
are more attracted by games involving imitation and chance. 
Because of its connection with the recapitulation theory, it 
is significant to note that the interest in the universal game of 
hide-and-seek culminates at ten, then suddenly drops. 

The simply organized clubs and societies, which the preadoles- 
cent enjoys for a brief time, are usually for athletics, for adven- 
ture, or for predatory purposes, and all prompted by the urgent 
demand for sensori-motor activity. All clubs and organizations 
of this time are especially lacking in stability, unless their wel- 
fare is carefully guarded by an adult who understands the nature 
and the needs of their members; this one might expect from 
the self -centered and self-assertive nature of preadolescents; 
misunderstandings and quarrels are almost inevitable. 

The non-social proclivities of this period are often exhibited 
in a marked way by the almost utter indifference to personal 
appearance; a dirty face and uncombed hair do not usually 
disturb the prevailing happiness of this interesting young bar- 
barian, for he is living out a period of the race's history when 
personal comfort and welfare controlled more than personal 
appearance. He does not care very much what the rest of 
the world thinks of him. Here follows the vigorous statement 
of Prof. George H. Palmer: — 

''The child is charmingly self -centered. The world and its 
ordered goings he notices merely as ministering to his desires. 
Nothing but what he wishes, and wishes just now, is important. 
He relates all this but little to the wishes of other people, to the 
inherent fixities of things, to his own future states, to whether 
one wish is compatible with another. His immediate mood is 
everything. Of any difference between what is whimsical or 
momentary and what is rational and permanent he is oblivious." 

The preadolescent is fundamentally most unlike the adoles- 
cent in his slight appreciation of sexual difference; this differ- 



14 ADOLESCENCE 

ence appears to have little significance, except that each gener- 
ally prefers to associate with his own sex; and in the case of 
the boy he seems sometimes rather to despise the girls of his 
own age. At any rate, if the girls and boys join in games or 
contests, it must be on an equal footing, and respect for the 
opposite sex will come only from proven skill or agility of some 
kind. Two or three years later all this is changed; sex con- 
sciousness will be apparent in all social arrangements. 

The preadolescent is neither moral nor immoral in the true 
sense of these terms; he may be better described as unmoral; 
at least, his moral ideals are negative rather than positive; 
much of his seeming morality results from imitation or habit; 
thus it appears he is devoid of true morality. The boy whose 
habitual conduct is such that people say, "What a good child!" 
is not unlike a well trained animal; he has learned in a some- 
what mechanical way to live a life of inhibitions (which, by 
the way, is very unnatural to a healthy, normal boy) ; the moral 
ideas which he appears to embody have not been woven into 
the web of his life; he has simply learned well his parts and he 
does not mistake his cues. It is only after he enters adolescence 
that he develops that sense of values which makes possible 
truly moral living. Since the values are determined largely 
by the effect of conduct on other people, he has little means of 
acquiring a sense of them; for, as we have seen, it is not in 
his nature to think much about other people. 

Unless the preadolescent is naturally of a passive and timid 
disposition and has yielded more or less completely to the moral 
code which well-meaning parents and teachers have thrust 
upon him, and thus does his moral tricks successfully, we are 
all aware that there are trying times awaiting those who are 
responsible for his conduct and welfare. There is a crassness, 
a selfishness, and a thoughtlessness peculiar to this age between 
childhood and youth, which, unless it is sympathetically rec- 
ognized and understood, may be extremely annoying; but 



PRE ADOLESCENCE 1 5 

few need be told this, for the youngster of the age under con- 
sideration seems, by reason of his insatiable curiosity and his 
persistent assertiveness, to be everywhere present. All this 
frequently applies to girls as well as boys. One pleasing young 
lady of nineteen speaks of herself as follows: "During the self- 
assertive period I must have been a distinctly obnoxious young- 
ster. I knew it all, I wanted to do what the boys did, I was 
noisy, slangy, and rude. This always surprises me in retro- 
spect, for on the whole I think I was a rather quiet and sensitive 
child. But at that time nothing was worth while but muscle, 
endurance, speed, perfection of body in all sorts of tests of 
prowess and skill." 

The elements of the preadolescent's personality are his largely 
by inheritance; although few in number, they are well organ- 
ized on a simple plan, have much momentum, and are effective. 
The primitive elements of personality are easily distinguishable 
from the later elements developed during adolescence, which 
are much further-reaching and more subtile. His sympathy, 
capacity for loving, as well as his faculty for esthetic enjoyment, 
are but slightly developed. Real sentiment and true religion 
are best described as nascent. But we must not expect to 
fend in the budding religion, which may appear at this time, 
anything closely equivalent to what we call religion in the adult; 
in this, as in other matters, we cannot successfully transplant 
our adult variety. 

The boy from eight to twelve delights, when the opportunity 
is given, in all forms of savagery, hunting, fishing, roving, and 
fighting; tribal and predatory proclivities are sometimes very 
marked. And we must be neither surprised nor discouraged 
if we discover considerable barbaric cruelty in the individual 
who is now living over again the barbarism of his race. It is 
certainly unfortunate both for the happiness of the boy and the 
welfare of the future man when the deep-seated instincts that 
prompt him to revel in idleness and savagery are not allowed 



l6 ADOLESCENCE 

some free scope. Rousseau understood the preadolescent and 
stated his case vigorously when he urged that he be left to his 
natural impulses, a recommendation rather inconvenient under 
modern conditions for the adults with whom our young tribes- 
man chances to be associated. Whatever we may think of 
Rousseau's advice, there is the utmost certainty that we cannot 
wisely attempt to make "nice little men out of noisy, boister- 
ous boys." 

Moreover, our young brave spends little time considering 
the ulterior motives of the people around him; on the other 
hand, he judges action by actual results, and especially by the 
way it affects him and his happiness; he is incapable of the fine 
discriminations in these matters which are so characteristic of 
the adolescent; " the present only touches" him. 

For generations immemorial, teachers, mothers, and maiden 
aunts, as well as men (who ought to understand) have been 
wont to ask why boys need to act so, why they are so rude, so 
noisy, so blustering, so cruel, so disagreeable generally. These 
questions and their like can be answered in three words if tech- 
nical terms are allowed. "Ontogenesis recapitulates phylo- 
genesis." This is Heckel's scientific way of saying that the 
individual during his life repeats the history of his race. This 
is sometimes known as the "recapitulation" theory; and some- 
times it is referred to as the "culture epochs" theory. No one 
doubts that mankind has had a long and strange struggle in 
its progress from savagery up to civilization; but it is only 
in recent years that we have come to recognize the same struggle 
going on in the individual. The racial prototypes of the differ- 
ent periods of the individual are classified as pre-historic, patri- 
archal, tribal, feudal with absolute monarchy, revolutionary 
with constitutional monarchy, and repubhc or self-governing. 
The parallels to these periods have been pretty carefully identi- 
fied in the individual and are respectively, infancy, childhood, 
preadolescence (boyhood), early adolescence, middle adolescence, 



PREADOLESCENCE 17 

and late adolescence. Thus we have a simple answer to the 
questions concerning boyhood, which have so long troubled 
fond parents and teachers; the boy has inherited the instincts, 
the feelings, and the experiences of primitive man, and is rap- 
idly repeating in his way the stages of progress through which 
his uncultured and barbaric ancestors have passed. Why should 
he not revel in the comradeship and rough-house activities of 
the gang, whose racial prototype was the council of braves? 
Why should he not be noisy, dirty, selfish, and cruel? Why 
should we not expect him to fight and settle some of his griev- 
ances as did his barbaric ancestors? If this is natural and 
hence necessary to the nurture and development of the preado- 
lescent, are we going to lose our patience or become discouraged 
with the boy who shows these traits, which from our viewpoint 
are sometimes so disturbing? Prof. G. W. Fiske of Oberlin 
considers the matter otherwise; he says, "My reverence for 
the boy is due not only to the wonderful possibilities rolled 
up in him by the divine involution, but also to the marvelous 
heredity which he rediscovers to us through his rehearsal of 
the divine evolution." 

In the light of what has been said concerning all these pre- 
adolescent characteristics, what are the practical conclusions? 
In part they are as follows : — 

The natural impulses can and should be given considerable 
scope; and the untamed instincts must not be completely re- 
pressed; for it has been shown that, if this repression occurs 
when the instincts first normally appear, there may result "a, 
later outcropping of belated instincts" in manhood or woman- 
hood, "with their foolish train of moral and social anachro- 
nisms; " and further, the many wholesome educative influences 
which come from normal preadolescent activities will certainly 
be lost. This does not in the least suggest a lack of control; 
on the contrary, firm and sympathetic handling is surely needed 
now as much as at any other time in life. 



l8 ADOLESCENCE 

If health is to be kept at the high tide which is due at this 
time, there must be much vigorous exercise for the large muscles 
of the body and limbs, the hill-climbing and tree-climbing mus- 
cles. It is only in this way that the untoward influences of 
the schoolroom can be rendered harmless; the occupations of 
the schools call for the use of the small muscles, those that 
"wag the tongue" and move the pen. 

The tastes at this time, which are strong because instinctive, 
must be satisfied, at least vicariously; for these tastes are crav- 
ings, demanding the recapitulation of ancestral experiences, 
echoes of a remote past insisting upon being heard. This can 
be done by furnishing tales of adventure, wholesome traditions 
containing stories of the early heroes of the world, and history 
which can be made to teach the primitive virtues of the ancient 
peoples. Perhaps best of all for this purpose are the stories 
and heroes of the Old Testament, whose oriental pomp and pag- 
eantry always make a strong appeal; the stories of Joseph and 
of David are favorites. Interest in these Bible stories culmi- 
nates at eleven. The educational value of this material, judged 
by the way it fixes and holds the interest of the preadolescent, is 
too great to be neglected. Moreover, unlike much of the ma- 
terial that must be included in the rudiments of an education, 
the early histories, traditions, and biographies have for boys 
and girls, when properly presented, real content; this is true, 
because the incidents and ideals often come down from the 
period of the world's history which the preadolescents are try- 
ing to repeat, because children at this age have remarkable 
powers of visualization, and because young people are always 
interested in stories as such. And further, there is little doubt 
that a free use of this material at this age is a pretty good safe- 
guard against precocity, an affliction which modern arrange- 
ments frequently foster. 

The same may be said of nature, in all the features of which 
the preadolescents delight to revel, — the fields, the hills, the 



PREADOLESCENCE 19 

forests, the animals, and especially the water. The call to 

them is, 

" Come forth into the Kght of things, 
Let Nature be your teacher." 

Stories and nature constitute the two staples in their education, 
for to these they seem to be indigenous. The materials which 
nature and stories furnish have immediate educational value, 
for, as noted above, they have real content for the child. 

But the preadolescent is a candidate for the higher qualities 
and planes of living which a long race-history has developed, 
hence much preparatory work must be done; and this is the 
golden age for storing up the countless elements of knowledge, 
even if they meet with little inner response; for memory is 
quick and lasting, and children at this age do not resent repeti- 
tion and drill. In like manner it is the period for external and 
mechanical training; thus the special forms of motor activity 
requiring either exactness or grace must not be neglected if the 
best results are to be realized. These include dancing, writing, 
music, drawing, and the other activities where physical skill is 
indispensable. In brief, this is the time for mastering the tools 
of education. 

As to method, the statement sounds unpedagogical : much 
of the instruction may be dogmatic and authoritative, and often, 
to get the best results, the methods must be mechanical. It 
is not profitable always to try to appeal to the higher reasoning 
powers. Incitement and insistence on the part of somebody is 
needed. So far as many of the fundamentals are concerned, 
it is a case of drill and inculcation rather than true teaching. 
Duty on the part of the pupil consists largely in habitual and 
prompt obedience; for, in giving lodgement to the fundamen- 
tals of knowledge, it is not practical to coquet with the child's 
likes and dislikes. 

The foregoing pages should make it clear that, when we are 
working as oarent, teacher, or leader in behalf of the welfare 



20 ADOLESCENCE 

of the preadolescent, we are dealing not merely with an individ- 
ual; but, on the contrary, we are often struggling with the 
whole gang, or may be with its leader, hence the occasional 
surprises and unexpected difficulties. It is certain that we 
have to do with something that is frequently more powerful in 
determining public opinion in the boy-world than teachers, par- 
ents, and all other adults combined; and here, as elsewhere, pub- 
lic sentiment controls. And what is the significance of all this? 
It means that the one who would manage the boy must take his 
cue from the boys; he must know boy life, including gang life, 
and proceed in a manner adapted to the boys' nature and pur- 
poses; for this is the only way to make a successful appeal. 
Club life flourishes from ten to fifteen, reaching its maximum 
at thirteen; this is our cue. What is said of boys is also true 
of girls. They, of course, must be organized separately. The 
one who shapes and directs the affairs of the club must be an 
adult whom for good reasons the members admire. It is only 
as a real leader or as a chum that one can greatly influence 
the life of the preadolescent. The teacher must always be 
the leader or do battle for his authority; the father must be- 
come the boy's chum not later than ten or leave the welfare of 
his boy to others; the mother is always the chum of the girl 
or the girl is a stranger in her own home. 

Not only is there a struggle going on between the boy and 
those who represent the authority and ideals of the adult world, 
but there is a real struggle going on between the boy and him- 
self. In a civilized community a boy between eight and twelve 
must live a double life; fundamentally he is a barbarian, a mem- 
ber of a gang with its unwritten code running counter to much 
that civilization expects; superficially he is living the life of 
the home circle and the school, shaping his wild nature as best 
he can, when he is not in opposition to the artificial but neces- 
sary demands that are made upon him. Is it at all strange 
that he is sometimes changeable, inconsistent, fitful, or illogical. 



PREADOLESCENCE 21 

while he is living this twofold life? It is ours to know the boy 
as the gang knows him, if we would understand the real boy, 
who is neither the member of the gang nor the sedate creature 
of the well-regulated home, but a creature that is being shaped 
by both. If we are aware of the dual life of every vigorous, 
normal boy, we can be much more helpful and at the same time 
find our contact with boy life much pleasanter. 

In conclusion, it may be said, if the preadolescent has received 
what is due him, he comes to the end of the period with a store 
of health and vitality sufficient to carry him through the "storm 
and stress" of adolescence; he has played and laughed much 
and worried little (for play is his serious work) ; he has lived near 
to nature; he has made some vital connections with the world's 
moral and social forces through story and tradition; and he 
has formed many habits, including truthfulness and obedi- 
ence, which it is hoped will carry over into the next period of 
his developing life and do much toward safeguarding and sus- 
taining him in the days of adolescent turmoil and reconstruc- 
tion, these habits being sometimes the only means of connecting 
the "new life" that is coming with the past life in which he 
has felt so secure. 

It has seemed best to dwell upon this interesting period of 
child life, because adolescence is founded on childhood, and 
because we shall find considerable belated childishness in the 
form of belated instincts when we pass to the study of the next 
period. Although adolescents are rapidly becoming men and 
women, we must not be surprised to discover at times a lack 
of manly and womanly purposes; there may be horse-play 
and many other symptoms indicative of the spirit of barbar- 
ism; and because we have learned the origin and explanation 
of these untimely expressions, we shall the better appreciate 
their part in the strange complex which the following chapters 
try to unfold. 



PART I — PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

CHAPTER III 

GENERAL SURVEY OF ADOLESCENCE 

In one of his lectures William James says, "Wherever a 
process of life communicates an eagerness to him who lives it, 
there the life becomes genuinely significant." Although this 
is stated as a general proposition, it applies with greatest force 
to that period of life known as adolescence; no period has as 
much significance for the individual or the race, and no period 
is so fraught with eagerness, an eagerness concomitant with 
a new and intensified life. The term adolescence applies to 
the decade which begins at about the age of twelve or fourteen 
and continues to maturity; there is considerable variability 
as to the age when the period begins. The word designating 
this period is well chosen; it takes its origin from the strong 
old Latin verb adolescere, meaning to grow up. It is at the 
on-coming of this period, called puberty, that the boy begins 
to pass from boyhood to manhood and the girl, from girlhood 
to womanhood, with all that such a change involves. It is 
truly a time of "new birth;" for the individual becomes ca- 
pable of new modes of thought and feeling; he suddenly finds 
himself controlled by a new world of instincts and emotions; 
it is a new life which he must learn to live and adjust himself to. 
The youth frequently must make a serious effort to fit himself 
to his environment; sometimes he finds himself in conflict with 
his parents, his teachers, or his friends; and there is probably 
always a struggle between the youth and himself, — hence the 
contradictions and anomalies so characteristic of the period. 

22 



GENERAL SURVEY 23 

It is a time when old moorings are broken and life's bark must 
make its course through waters more troubled, for the currents 
are setting more swiftly and strongly than at any other time. 
There is now a great, rich, rushing flood of energy. Thus it 
is that the youth becomes suddenly conscious of being alive in 
a new and significant sense, a sense very different from the 
naivCy unquestioning, and self-centered existence of his preado- 
lescent years. 

Although this period has been studied scientifically only 
during the last forty years, the human race has apparently 
always appreciated its importance and understood that some- 
how the developments occurring at this time are supremely 
significant. This is clearly indicated by the various ceremonies 
observed among savage peoples in recognition of the new birth 
of adolescence. It was the custom among the aborigines of 
Australia to allow the children to remain with the women of 
the tribe until the time of adolescence, when the boys were 
taken by the old men, the sacred bull-roarers, and instructed 
in matters known to the men, after which they were expected 
to take part in all adult male activities. Among many savage 
races the ceremony incident to adolescence takes the form of a 
difficult ordeal or test, which the candidates for the privileges 
of manhood must pass successfully. This required proof of 
virility may be the securing of the scalp or the head of an enemy, 
or it may consist of the stoical endurance of much physical 
pain. It is only after these initiating mysteries that the male 
is allowed to take unto himself a wife and assume the responsi- 
bilities of sustaining and defending a family. Among the In- 
dian tribes of North America it was the girl who received special 
attention and for whom the most exacting initiatory ceremony 
was observed at pubescence; it was for her that the ordeal was 
planned, which sometimes cost her life. So it would seem that 
nearly all savages are fully aware of the deep signifi,cance of 
adolescence. 



24 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

Among the Romans, who were so thoughtful concerning 
everything that makes for efficiency in the individual, as well 
as in the body politic, the boy at the age of fourteen was recog- 
nized as a social unit and on him was conferred the privilege 
of wearing the toga virilis. 

In the days when knighthood was in flower the same conscious- 
ness of the significance of adolescence was manifested. From 
about seven to fourteen the boys were much in the company of 
ladies, receiving their lessons in games, music, religion, obedi- 
ence, and courtesy. At the age of fourteen the page became 
a squire, when it was his duty to accompany his lord in war, 
going with him on the battle field and attending him while 
defending his knightly name in the tournament. Meanwhile 
the squire has often been told the stories of the brave knights 
of the olden time. Thus there was created about him an at- 
mosphere of honor, courage, and gallantry at an age when he 
was most susceptible to these ennobling influences. Then, 
toward the close of adolescence he was made a knight with 
imposing surroundings and ceremonies. Judged by results, 
this system, which made so much of adolescence, was a suc- 
cess; the valiant, loyal, and gentle knights were the ideal 
gentlemen of the Middle Ages, constituting one of the bright 
spots in that dark and discouraging period of human history. 

The church, too, has not been unmindful of the importance of 
adolescence; confirmation and other like ceremonies are given a 
place in the life of the child with reference to this critical period 
in his development. In the Episcopal Church it is the custom 
for boys to take their first communion at about fourteen and 
girls at about twelve, indicating a very careful timing of this 
sacrament relative to the on-coming of this great physiological 
and accompanying spiritual change. Although the time of 
taking, in a formal way, the vows and obligations of religion 
differs somewhat in the different churches, all seem to have 
had in mind this significant physiological change when deter- 



GENERAL SURVEY 25 

mining the best and most impressable age at which to dedicate 
the children to a religious life. 

The more evangelical churches are also aware of the signifi- 
cance of adolescence in the religious development of the individ- 
ual. They have learned that, if anything like conversion is to 
be experienced, the chances are many in favor of this happen- 
ing sometime during the teens, sixteen being the age, as shown 
by statistics, when the greatest number decide to follow a reli- 
gious life and unite with the church. The physiological and con- 
sequent psychological developments which are in progress at 
this time make this religious awakening one of the most natural 
experiences that could occur; the reason for this will be evident 
when the nature of adolescent changes are described. 

Again, nearly all literature and art which make a strong 
human appeal have recognized the significance and deep interest 
of this period. The fields of literature would seem extremely 
barren and uninviting if all of love and adventure and everything 
that pertains to these were removed. Nearly all poetry and 
fiction have for their motive the meeting and mutual discover- 
ing of two adolescents. In literature we read the accounts of 
incidents peculiar to and consequent upon adolescence rather 
than descriptions of the characteristics of adolescence; and it 
is to adolescence with all its varied charms that artists of all 
kinds have oftenest turned for subjects and for inspiration, this 
being true even in the Middle Ages when religion and the church, 
with much effort at abnegation and humbling of the flesh, dom- 
inated practically all art; the budding beauty of adolescent 
manhood and womanhood inspired the brush and chisel, and 
fascinated the beholding worshipers. It is the youthful Mary 
and Magdalene, St. John and St. Sebastian that charm with 
their beauty. It is the charm and beauty of youth that has 
given us the most interesting characters in Plato's Dialogues, 
in Shakspere's plays, and in George Eliot's novels; and Goethe, 
who never seemed to outgrow his own adolescence, has given 



26 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

us his famous studies in adolescent emotions and moods in 
Werther and Wilhelm Meister. 

Thus the world has felt that somehow adolescence is a great 
central fact in human development, an epoch in the life of the 
individual which is clearly anticipated by much physiological 
preparation during the years of preadolescence, and an epoch 
from which dates nearly all that gives character and the finer 
elements of personality, the most formative of all periods of 
growth and development both for the race and for the individ- 
ual. The facts referred to thus far certainly emphasize the 
importance of this period; and of late it has been receiving much 
attention from students of education. Surely a knowledge of 
it should be included in the equipment of all who are to deal 
with boys and girls that are living through its meaningful 
changes. But the student of the period is confronted with 
a number of difficulties and dangers of considerable magnitude. 

In the first place, he cannot well remember his own adolescent 
thoughts, feelings, and experiences: the experiences have lost 
much of their color; the emotions live in memory (if at all) 
greatly softened, having come to resemble the later eddyings of 
life's currents; and the thoughts, which at first seemed new and 
important, have become so commonplace that both they and 
their emotional setting have ceased to represent any distinct 
mental process worthy of note. The evanescent nature of 
adolescent experiences is no doubt due largel}^ to the psychologi- 
cal fact that a past experience, in order to be recalled and re- 
valued with any degree of accuracy and satisfaction, must have 
somewhat the same instinctive promptings and be surrounded 
by a somewhat similar emotional atmosphere, conditions from 
the nature of the case wholly impossible; for the instinctive and 
emotional content of adolescent life is distinctively peculiar to 
that period. The rapidity with which adolescence is forgotten 
is well illustrated by an incident related by Dr. G. Stanley 
Hall. He had finished a popular lecture in which he had de- 



GENERAL SURVEY 27 

scribed the characteristics and experiences of adolescence; a 
lady present asserted most emphatically that she at least had 
never had any such experiences as the lecturer had just de- 
scribed. But fortunately for Dr. Hall and his thesis, the lady's 
mother had kept her daughter's youthful diary, and it was 
known to contain, among other things, the record of many 
psychical experiences distinctly typical of adolescence as pic- 
tured by Dr. Hall in his lecture. 

The difficulty is considerable, too, when we try to study the 
adolescent directly. Many of his thoughts and emotions are 
to him unique and of such a nature that he does not wish to 
describe them to others; sometimes they are unpleasant, and 
sometimes they are felt to be too personal and in a way sacred; 
so he instinctively withdraws into himself and does not report 
frankly concerning these matters, which at best he feels would 
not be understood and might be interpreted as weaknesses or 
eccentricities. Thus the enthusiastic investigator is not ad- 
mitted to the inner temple of adolescent consciousness and must 
look elsewhere. 
f V It is often said that "actions speak louder than words," \ 
'^ hence let us judge the nature and inward experiences of the 
youth by what he does. But all who know adolescents are 
aware of their adeptness in the art of concealment. We need 
not expect the boy in his early teens to "wear his heart on 
his sleeve." His soul is often teeming with new sentiments, 
sympathies, and flowery ideals, yet he will play his part, what- 
ever the circumstances, apparently with the utmost indifference. 
This skill in concealing their real thoughts and feelings is fre- 
quently evident when the sexes meet on occasions when they 
are expected to mingle and enjoy each other's society; witness 
the segregation on sex lines exhibited in the groupings and the 
assumed air of indifference to each other's presence manifested 
at a class party of first year high-school pupils. Moreover, if 
we attempt to learn their real sentiments by questioning, both 



28 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

boys and girls, especially in their early teens, will instinctively 
guard their inner Ufe by a system of evasive and false answers; 
this insincerity, if they were conscious of it, might be justified 
by them on the ground that they themselves are not fully and 
definitely aware of their own inmost thoughts and emotions, 
because they are so new and often so vague and ill-defined. 

Then, too, when it is possible to get at the real inner processes 
of the adolescent mind, we are confronted with the most be- 
wildering multiplicity of moods and characteristics, moods and 
characteristics often perplexingly contradictory. No two ado- 
lescents show exactly the same traits, much less the same pro- 
gressive sequence of traits; but this is not surprising, since in 
general we do not expect to find two people just alike. How- 
ever, it is disturbing to enthusiastic students of adolescent 
psychology to discover that very frequently the inner life which 
he is trying to know accurately and describe scientifically is 
an extremely nebulous affair; when he thinks he has the form 
and content of his subject well in hand, lo and behold, like the 
elusive Proteus with whom Ulysses struggled so manfully, it 
has taken on a new shape; in other words, this is often a time 
of transitory moods and thoughts; at one time youth is active 
and energetic and again lethargic and static, now on "the celes- 
tial mountain" and now in "the slough of despond." At times 
it would seem that there is little coherence among the elements 
of personality; and naturally all these transitory moods and 
contradictions are as perplexing to the subject of, the investi- 
gation as to the investigator. 

Another danger, ever present when any continuously pro- 
gressive series of events is under consideration, is the tendency 
to draw exaggerated pictures of certain moods and mental 
phases of this period; such is likely to happen when any period 
of life is arbitrarily set off, as is necessary, for purposes of study; 
but the temptation is particularly strong when we are dealing 
with such striking and often dramatic material. Sometimes 



GENERAL SURVEY 29 

it would seem that the analytic method of attack is peculiarly 
ill-suited to the study of such a thing as the living, dynamic, 
continuously changing stream of individual life. Here every- 
thing occurs by infinitely minute gradations; in reality there 
are no lines such as we set up for our convenience in study; 
all is a flux, what the philosophers call a continuum. This is 
true in both the physical and spiritual realms, hence the ever- 
present danger alluded to. Moreover, a writer on such a sub- 
ject is often tempted merely in the interest of clearness to over- 
color his descriptions and exhibit the contrasting features of his 
picture in the high lights. No period of human development 
has been more sinned against in this way than adolescence; 
for nowhere has the temptation been so great; and all recent 
students and writers have had before them a monumental 
example of this tendency toward the exaggerated, not to say 
fantastic, in the elaborate descriptions and speculations of 
Dr. Hall. 

But some of the recent students of this period, influenced by 
the spirit and methods of a scientific age, have carefully at- 
tempted to overcome and offset the dangers and errors incident 
to the study of individuals by taking into account thousands 
of adolescents, thus arriving at averages and curves represent- 
ing growth and development. And here, again, we are in trouble; 
no one would claim that an average is a real living boy or girl, 
or that it can be made to represent any part or phase of life. 
When once obtained, an average infixed and static, two qualities 
the furthest possible from representing or even suggesting 
anything characteristic of the nature of adolescence. And so 
it is with the curve, now so much in use; although it may be 
made to represent a progressive series of events or stages of 
development and the concomitant variants, yet the curve, as 
such, is as definite and fixed as the average, and hence cannot 
be made to stand for life or any of life's processes. Then we 
must add to this consideration concerning averages and curves, 



30 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

that the original sources of the data from which the averages 
are struck and the curves plotted are the adolescents themselves, 
whom we have found so unreliable. When pursued by the 
persistent maker of questionnaires and asked to tell of their likes 
and dislikes, their instinctive reactions and their emotional 
responses, their manner of thinking and their ideals, who knows 
how near the truth their answers come, even assuming all 
concerned aim to be frank and truthful in exposing to view 
their innermost sentiments? The method involves the same 
fallacy as "guessing at half and multiplying by two." 

Yet in spite of the obstacles and dangers peculiar to this study, 
there are a number of pretty definitely established facts and 
tendencies of a general nature that have much interest for the 
parent, the teacher, ..or any one who deals with boys and girls 
of this age. Some of these it is the purpose of the remainder 
of this chapter to consider. 

Although some writers have made too much of the idea, it 
is helpful to think of the physical and psychical changes 
that set in at this time as a "new birth," a view suggested 
by Rousseau many years ago; new and all-important func- 
tions come into existence, and with them higher and more 
complete human traits are born, manifested by a distinctly 
more individualistic and human attitude. It has been said 
that the child comes from and harks back to a remoter past, 
the ages of the kinship clan and the tribal organization; but 
in the adolescent the later acquisitions and developments 
of the race become potent. The forces and tendencies that 
were formerly operative, if they continue, seem to break up 
and recombine, resulting many times in an almost new be- 
ing; the individual is now responding more completely to his 
social environment and to his own will; personal loyalty, 
self-reliance, and leadership are the stages in will-growth which 
closely follow and frequently telescope into each other during 
the ten years of adolescence, while the corresponding charac- 



GENERAL SURVEY 



3^ 



teristics are chivalry, self-assertion, and a spirit of cooperation. 
All phases of physical and mental development are accelerated 
and intensified. Because the old harmonies characteristic of 
preadolescence are broken and the finer adjustments to envi- 
ronment of that earlier period have been disturbed, because of 
the saltatory nature of the developments that are taking place 
in the mental and emotional life, developments based on new 
instincts and new powers, because of all these changes, the 
physical and especially the social world seem strange and novel. 
This awakening to a seemingly new world gives rise to a double 
perplexity; for the youth understands neither his apparently 
changed surroundings nor his transformed self. However, 
there finally emerges out of all this inchoate confusion some 
kind of order, and, as Bourne says, " the disturbing currents of 
impulse are gradually resolved into a character." Do not all 
these vital changes in the individual and his views of life war- 
rant the use of the term new birth? First he is born "to exist," 
and now he is born "to live." 

Although in adolescence there is a great variety of contradic- 
tory characteristics as we pass from one individual to another, 
one characteristic is always present in every normal youth 
and that is life, and life in abundance. At this period the 
stream of life is sometimes so swollen and the currents are 
setting and surging so vigorously that it breaks through and 
overflows its natural channel, and, as with the delightful meadow 
brook during the spring freshet when it overtops its banks, 
there is trouble; life's stream in this showery springtime takes 
on a new and disturbing character, and the practical outcome 
is often surprising to all concerned; the very abundance of 
life, which is most desirable, appears to be the cause of the 
trouble. However, it will be shown in a later chapter that 
this is not the scientific and helpful way of stating the case; 
there can never really be " too much of a good thing." 

By reason of the comparative suddenness of the change. 



32 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

which is both quantitative and qualitative, that comes in the 
life-processes, it has been customary to refer to this period as 
a turning point in the life of the individual, and many figura- 
tive expressions have been used to indicate its revolutionary 
nature. However, '' turning point" or crisis is not quite 
accurate; it is rather a series of crises, and a series the terms 
of which sometimes exhibit the most perplexing incongruities. 
Perhaps with a majority of adolescents this period is lived 
through so successfully or seemingly so calmly that the ex- 
pression series of crises is over-emphatic, since the more strik- 
ing features appear almost non-existent. As to how the in- 
dividual responds to the on-rushing flood of new sensations, 
instincts, and emotions depends largely upon two things, tem- 
perament and social environment, the one subjective and the 
other objective, the one largely predetermined and the other 
to be controlled; the discussion of this control belongs to later 
chapters. 

The next fact to be noted concerning this period is the logical 
outcome of the characteristics already described, and it is by 
far the most important consideration; for it is the central ped- 
agogical fact of adolescence. This is the great formative period 
for the individual; what happens now conditions and largely 
determines all that the future has in store. It is the significant 
day of new things, the Renaissance of life, the time when the 
elements of personality (some old and some new) are being 
assembled and unified, the age when the finer, higher, and more 
human traits of character are being developed and built into 
definite form. This is but a way of saying that, of all times of 
life, this is the most plastic, because of the power shown to 
reshape and recombine and because of the capacity manifested 
to absorb and assimilate whatever chances to come into the 
intellectual, moral, industrial, religious, and above all, the 
social environment of the individual. Youth must now eat of 
the fruit that grows on " the tree of knowledge of good and evil." 



GENERAL SURVEY ^^ 

It is the time when youth enthusiastically greets and welcomes 
all that he discovers in his apparently new environment. It 
is the time, too, when he receives his social heritage; the great 
wealth of non-material resources which the race has, through 
much effort, been accumulating during all past time is now due 
him; and it is a matter of much moment whether he rejects, 
or whether he accepts and appropriates this heritage. 

Since adolescence is a period of such rich and vital possibil- 
ities, since it is the time the man or the woman, with all that is 
implied, is created, it logically follows, other things being equal, 
that the longer this formative period lasts, the more will be 
accomplished for the individual; consequently the richer will 
be the life of the man or woman, and the race's accumulated 
store of manhood and womanhood be thus increased. Such is 
the case; this psychological possibility is a historical fact. A 
number of years ago John Fiske made his most important con- 
tribution to the science of human life when he showed the rela- 
tion between a prolonged infancy and the progress of the race. 
In the same way and for the same psychological reason, the 
highest civilizations and a prolonged adolescence are found 
together; maturity among savages comes at an earlier age, and 
the process is of shorter duration. With the individual it is 
generally found that, if the pubertal changes take place at the 
normal age, considering race and climate, and if the maturing, 
both physical and mental, is not in any way artificially hastened, 
the greatest and most satisfactory results follow. There is 
another interesting fact connected with this: genius in almost 
any field of human endeavor (with the possible exception of 
music, which often appears, early) is foreshadowed during adoles- 
cence; and, as Dr. Hall has pointed out, the whole future of 
the youth depends upon husbanding and directing the new 
powers. Caution is usually needed; for by reason of the new- 
ness of the experiences, and because of the momentum of the 
forces that are surging within, every trait and faculty is prone 



34 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

to exaggeration and excess, consequently the liability to trouble 
and waste. 

Before closing this general survey it will be helpful to mark 
off as clearly as possible the three phases or stages of develop- 
ment of this period; they are now generally recognized as, 
early, middle, and late adolescence. Although these stages are 
not naturally separated by any sharp line of demarcation, but 
frequently telescope into one another, they are readily dis- 
tinguished and easily characterized. Early adolescence with 
the boy generally extends from about thirteen to fifteen years; 
middle adolescence, from fourteen to eighteen; and late ado- 
lescence, from seventeen to twenty-four. The overlapping 
of these stages, as just stated, indicates the wide variation in 
the development of youth. With girls each of these stages of 
development begins about a year and a half earlier. 
1^ Early adolescence has been variously named: the awkward 
age, the period of chivalry, the age of personal loyalty, the time 
of hero worship. According to the recapitulation theory, it 
is supposed to correspond to the feudal period of the world's 
history. It is the time of very rapid physical growth, the in- 
crease in height during one year sometimes reaching four to 
six inches. The movements are awkward, due to a new self-con- 
sciousness and the lack of adjustment of the nervous system 
to the changed physical proportions. The old, well-adjusted 
harmony with nature that characterized preadolescence is 
broken up. It is the time of puberty with all that it implies. 
The center of personality is physiological rather than psycho- 
logical; new sensations, instincts, and experiences are rushing 
in and have not yet been fully translated; hence meanings 
and values are not yet determined. Mental unity must of 
necessity come later. It is not strange that youth at this time 
is frequently unresponsive and occasionally stolid; for he is 
uncertain of himself. As King explains it, "he has not yet 
felt enough of the uprushing vital force of youth to step out 



GENERAL SURVEY 



35 



in any positive way or assume any definite attitude of his own." 
The pleasing teachableness of preadolescence has passed and 
the splendid ideahsm of middle adolescence has not appeared. 
However, many fine traits here take their rise; early adoles- 
cence is really the infancy of man's higher estate. The comrade- 
ship of the gang has gone, but the capacity for personal loy- 
alty has taken its place. The ready and convenient obedience 
of boyhood and girlhood are frequently lacking; but loyalty 
may naturally be made a substitute, for in it shines the spirit 
of true obedience as distinguished from coertion. Generally 
these two years are thought of as troublesome and disagreeable; 
the girl is tall and awkward, neither girl nor woman; and the 
boy is usually worse, feels more his lack of poise and is less 
docile. 

Here is Tagore's description of the boy. "In the world of 
human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age 
of fourteen. He is neither ornamental nor useful. It is im- 
possible to shower affection on him as on a little boy; and he 

is always getting in the way He grows out of his 

clothes with indecent haste; his voice grows hoarse and breaks 
and quavers; his face grows suddenly angular and unsightly. . . 
When he talks with elderly people he is either unduly forward, 
or else so unduly shy that he appears ashamed of his very ex- 
istence." 

But all is likely to go well if there is at hand a strong adult 
personality, for this is a time of hero-worship. To quote 
again from Tagore, who has been so successful in dealing with 
Bengali adolescents; "It is at this very age when in his heart 
of hearts a young lad most craves for recognition and love; and 
he becomes the devoted slave of any one who shows him con- 
sideration." Experience soon causes the youth to realize that, 
if his efforts at cooperation are to be continuously successful, 
there must be a leader. When the leader is worthy according 
to his standards, the youth will gladly follow; he admires in 



36 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

his leader resourcefulness, alertness, skill, physical prowess, 
and the other feudal virtues. Yet the choice of a hero at this 
time is frequently discouraging; it may be a football star, a 
bull-dozer, a real gentleman, a boy tyrant, or even a boy crim- 
inal. 

Altogether, early adolescence is likely to be a strange, un- 
settled, impulsive, yeasty, tumultuous, unattractive, but not 
uninteresting time in the development of youth, a time that 
must be understood and sympathetically dealt with. It is the 
age of the upper grades of the elementary school and the first 
year of the high school; it is an age whose peculiar needs call 
for carefully determined school treatment, which many edu- 
cators throughout the country propose to furnish by means 
of the junior high school, or what Snedden calls the inter- 
mediate school. The junior high school is the subject of a 
later chapter. 

Middle adolescence is preeminently the period of self-asser- 
tion; it is the time when the individual naturally develops 
self-reliance; it is the age when the ego comes into its own and 
to some extent slips into the place of the hero ; Shakespeare's 
"to thine own self be true" now makes a strong appeal. This 
epoch in the life of the individual is said to correspond to the 
Revolutionary Period of constitutional monarchy. Physical 
growth is not so rapid as during the first two years of adoles- 
cence, and body and limbs are now assuming the form and 
proportions of manhood and womanhood; there is the clean- 
cut muscular figure which displaces the delightful chubbiness 
of earlier years, and there is the chiseled face of eager youth. 
The center of personality is fast shifting from a physical to a 
spiritual basis; as King says, "the youth emerges from the 
somewhat animal-like crassness of the pubertal years and be- 
gins to think of his social relationship, his duties, and the 
rights and wrongs of his acts." He still thinks of himself, but 
of himself as related to others. Although there is as yet a 



GENERAL SURVEY 37 

lack of mental perspective, the youth is beginning to have a 
sense of values, and life is coming to have much significance. 
Much intellectual curiosity and enthusiastic eagerness and 
alertness now take the place of the earlier unresponsiveness. 
Although some fickleness is carried over from the earlier period, 
a new manliness and womanliness is rapidly becoming manifest, 
and an appeal to "honor" can most profitably be made, for 
now comes, as Montaigne expresses it, "the relish of right 
and wrong." 

Because the social instincts are so largely in control, coopera- 
tive games with much team-work displace the more individual- 
istic games. A combination of initiative and capacity for 
cooperation develop side by side; this means that the youth 
must now begin to get his training for leadership. A man or 
woman with strong personaUty is now greatly needed to lead 
and to suggest; for youth has not yet sufficient self-control 
for continuous self-government. The social horizon is widen- 
ing more rapidly than at any other time in life; it is now that 
the youth must take practically full possession of his social 
heritage; for the social instincts are now ripening most rapidly. 

On the spiritual side youth is seeing visions and thinking 
great thoughts, inspired often by a fine ideaHsm; and he should 
be daily growing richer in that which is distinctly human and 
charming. Although not really an adult, the youth must in 
many things be treated as an adult and never as a child (the 
greatest possible mistake that could be made). This is pre- 
eminently the high-school age; hence the high-school cur- 
riculum and all the school activities must be so planned and 
administered as to make the strongest and broadest social 
appeal. 

If the two earlier stages of adolescent development have 
brought to the individual the maximum growth in personality 
and self-reliance, late adolescence should manifest itself as a 
period fraught with great possibilities for cooperation and 



38 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

leadership; individual resourcefulness, leading to various forms 
of efficiency, should characterize young manhood and woman- 
hood from seventeen to twenty-four. Carrying out the re- 
capitulation theory, this phase of individual development may 
be said to parallel the present stage of the v/orld's political ma- 
turing, the epoch of the self-governing state or re ublic in iis 
highest form. Although complete physical maturity is not 
reached until from twenty-three to twenty-five, the bones and 
muscles are so well "set" and the joints are so firm that very 
vigorous and trying sports and labor may profitably be in- 
dulged in; hardening must be brought about by combined 
physical and mental strain; the physical being must now be 
brought to its perfection, for it is the last chance. The mind 
should now be ready to undertake its deepest and most difficult 
thinking, and see things as wholes and in their true relations. 
It is the time for the greatest originalty, the most consummate 
strategy^ and the perfection of the social graces. 

At this time arises the desire for social service and with it 
the highest possibility for cultivating this field. It is the time, 
too, for training in vocational skill if the best results are to 
be realized. Because this is preeminently the age for cooper- 
ation and the securing of cooperation, some type of leadership 
may be expected, — athletic, political, oratorical, social. The 
young man must have an opportunity to practice leadership 
at least on a small scale; its responsibility has a sobering and 
maturing effect. Now for the first time the young man or 
young woman becomes capable of real self-government and is 
able to join with others to form successful self-governing groups. 
It is during this period that the individual naturally begins to 
feel his allegiance to his country; the personal loyalty of early 
adolescence now becomes patriotism. In brief, this is the age 
when young manhood and young womanhood reaches its per- 
fection. Educationally it is the age when we expect to find 
the adolescent in college; and the colleges have the responsi- 



GENERAL SURVEY 39 

bility of providing for development and training along all the 
lines suggested by the powers and tastes which appear at this 
time. 

Enough has been said in this chapter to show that we are 
approaching a most fascinating and worthy theme, a study 
that should ,^5e helpful to all who would assume a practical 
attitude toward all phases of human nature. To deal success- 
fully with human beings we must deal with them as they are, 
and to that end we must understand them as they really are. 
There is no period of life more difficult to deal with on a prac- 
tical basis than this period of youth; but the difficulties in- 
volved do not warrant discouragement, nor do they in any way 
suggest a passive attitude toward the many troublesome prob- 
lems. It is certainly not a matter of tiding youth safely through 
these critical years, but it is a work of character-building (com- 
monplace as this sounds) and it demands an active instead of a 
timid, passive attitude. The nature and the boundless energy 
of youth furnish the raw material and the vitalizing force; but 
the results depend more than is generally admitted upon edu- 
cational and social forces. There is no age so responsive to 
all that is best and socially effective; and the seeds, both the 
good and the noxious, strike deep roots into the psychic soil. 
Those who have had experience do not need to be told 
that, not only is the nature of the adolescent intensely fascin- 
ating as a study, but still more interesting and inspiring is 
youth itself to all who are fortunate enough to have close and 
sympathetic contact with wholesome adolescent boys and 
girls. 



CHAPTER IV 
PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 

All the phenomena alluded to in the preceding chapter, 
which are so significant for the individual and the race, have as 
their background the characteristics and changes to be de- 
scribed here. The maturing of the all-important sex functions 
constitutes the central and casual factor of the whole adoles- 
cent period. Accompanying this functional development, 
which is known as puberty, is a very rapid and often erratic 
physical growth, followed by a wonderful mental and social 
development and reconstruction. It is the purpose of this 
chapter to give a somewhat detailed account of the physiologi- 
cal changes which occur at this time. 

The first fact to be noted is the variation in age of the on-com- 
ing of the pubertal changes. In this matter the range t>f in- 
dividual variation is generally from ten to eighteen years, both 
ages being very unusual. Large numbers of boys and girls 
have been studied, and it has been found that the average time 
for the beginning of puberty with girls is twelve to thirteen and 
the average for boys is fourteen. The tabulated results of a 
study of 4800 boys in the New York high schools by Dr. C. W. 
Compton show that six per cent were mature at twelve and 
three-fourths years; and the percentages of boys becoming 
pubescent each succeeding half year are as follows, — 12, 13, 
15, 14, 10, 15, 8, 3, 2; thus, when the age of seventeen and three- 
fourths years is reached, the whole 4800 boys have become phys- 
iologically mature. An Italian student, Marro by name, has 
arranged a table showing the onset of puberty for 261 girls. 
One matured at ten years of age, six at eleven, sixteen at twelve, 

40 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 41 

thirty-four, at thirteen, sixty-one at fourteen, fifty-four at fif- 
teen, forty at sixteen, twenty-nine at seventeen, twelve at eight- 
een, four at nineteen, two at twenty, and two at twenty-one. 
Marro's table shows a greater variability and a higher average 
age than is generally stated by American students of adolescence. 
The age at which puberty takes place has much importance for 
those who are trying to solve certain administrative problems in 
public education; for it has been shown by recent studies that 
there is a vital relation between the on-coming of adolescence 
and the success of pupils in doing certain kinds of school work. 
Individual differences ^s shown by these tables are so marked 
that the need of a considerable degree of flexibility in the school 
machinery is suggested. 

It is well to note that this great variability in the age of pu- 
berty, as shown by the studies made thus far, is paralleled by 
the same degree of variability in many other physiological 
changes incident to adolescence. Thus individual variability 
itself is one of the common characteristics of the period of ado- 
lescence; that is, the range of difference among individuals 
relative to any one trait is greater during adolescence than at 
any other time. Because of the marked and extreme variabil- 
ity in the appearance of the many adolescent characteristics, 
it is convenient in our educational discussions to use the term 
"physiological age," which stands for the degree of physiologi- 
cal maturity the pupil has reached, puberty being the central 
change from which maturity is reckoned. The tables already 
referred to indicate that there is often a great lack of agreement 
between the physiological age and the chronological age. The 
other terms used in this connection are psychological age and 
pedagogical age; the first is determined by the pupil's degree 
of mental development and the latter by his place in the school. 

There are many influences which affect in a pretty definite 
way the age of physiological maturing of the individual; and the 
results, as effecting the welfare of the individual when the time 



42 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

of maturing is other than normal, have been rather definitely 
established. As already noted, sex is usually a determining 
factor, the girl maturing from a year and a half to two years 
younger than the boy. Thus in any school grade with an equal 
number of boys and girls the average physiological age of the 
girls is greater than that of the boys; and this is easily detected 
by observing either physical or mental characteristics. Then 
climatic conditions influence the age of puberty. In general 
it may be said that the warmer the climate the earlier the pu- 
bertal change comes, especially is this true of the dark-skinned 
races. In the countries near the equator puberty sets in at 
about ten or eleven. A study of the races of the temperate 
zone indicates that the various Scandinavian peoples mature 
later physiologically than the others, and the Hebrews somewhat 
earlier. Again, and of more practical importance, economic 
and industrial conditions have a marked influence upon the 
individual's age of maturing. All that may be covered by 
the term hygiene — nutrition, fresh air, sleep, clothing, and 
the rest — affects in a definite way the age of puberty; good 
conditions tend to early maturing and unfavorable conditions 
tend toward retarded development. Thus it is not surprising 
to find the children of the well-to-do maturing earlier than those 
of the laboring class. So far as can be determined, the advent 
of puberty seems to depend to a considerable extent upon the 
hygienic conditions under which the children live during pre- 
adolescence; without doubt this is the time when the individual 
should lay in his store of health and energy if he is to have 
an early and successful adolescence. F. Boas, who is an author- 
ity in the matter, says, in an article in A Cyclopedia of Edu- 
cation: '^ Among the poor, the period of diminishing growth 
which precedes adolescence is lengthened and the acceleration 
of adolescence sets in later. The whole period of growth is 
lengthened; but the total amount of growth during this longer 
period is less than the amount of growth attained during the 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 43 

shorter period of growth of the well-to-do." "The whole 
group of the poor are, at any given time, physiologically younger 
than the well-to-do." Hence the important conclusion is 
reached, that, so far as the individual is concerned, any con- 
ditions that favor a moderately early development are much 
to be desired; also, as we should expect, whatever affects the 
physical well-being affects also the mental. Although of less 
pedagogical significance, it is patent to all observers that hered- 
ity has an unmistakable influence in this matter under discus- 
sion. Certain families of the same social status and the same 
race as the rest of the community are noticeably early in ma- 
turing; but thus far the effect of early maturing due to heredity 
has not been determined by a study of a large number of cases. 
Before considering the many physical changes occurring at 
this time that are determined quantitatively by accurate meas- 
urements, it may be well to mention a few characteristics that 
appear on the surface and have been noted by all who are in- 
terested in youthful development. No one has failed to note 
the marked change of voice in the boy. All are familiar with 
the rapid shooting up in height. The mother knows how diffi- 
cult it is to keep the boy's sleeves down to his wrists and to 
maintain his trouser bottoms at the proper level. The boy, 
as well as every one around him, is aware of his awkward move- 
ments; for he is continually bumping into things, much to 
his embarrassment and other people's annoyance, and he never 
knows what to do with his hands and feet. His whole bear- 
ing shows a great lack of poise. In these matters the girl is a 
little more fortunate, although for a year or two she is for her 
size too slim and wanting in womanly contours, and her 
movements have lost the charm of her childhood years and the 
agility and grace of her preadolescence. It can be seen without 
measurements of any kind that the different parts and organs 
of the body are out of proportion; and careful observation 
reveals the fact that, in the case of any individual, each part 



44 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

seems to have its own period of acceleration and retardation. 
Judging from these seemingly freakish manifestations of growth, 
one is led to the general conclusion that, as Hall characteristic- 
ally expresses it, growth is "essentially non-logical and for- 
ever inconsistent with itself. The logic of the schools is ex 
post facto.^' Thus these years of early adolescence have, for 
their superficial characteristics, lack of proportion and lack 
of poise. 

Since increase in height and weight furnishes in a general 
way an index to the growth of an individual, it seems best to 
begin our study of the order and manner of adolescent physical 
development with an account of the way height and weight vary. 
To begin with birth, during the first years there is a period 
of very rapid increase in height and weight (fifty to seventy- 
five per cent the first year); then comes a rapid falling off, 
which in some cases is twice as rapid the second year as the 
third. From about three and a half years there comes a grad- 
ual dropping of the curve until the period of preadolescence 
is reached. From eight to twelve the curve of increase runs 
almost level; that is, the increase is relatively slow. Then 
comes the sudden rise in the curve indicating the rapid growth 
of the first year of postpubescence. A study of height and 
weight based on the measurements of 88,000 pupils in the 
schools of Boston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Oakland, Cal., and 
Toronto was made by Boas and printed in the report of the 
Commissioner of Education for 1896-7. The tables there 
compiled show that boys are slightly taller and heavier than 
girls of the same age during childhood and preadolescence; 
a change in relative height and weight begins just before the 
on-coming of puberty; girls are taller than boys from eleven 
and a half to fourteen and a half, and they are heavier from 
twelve and a half to fourteen and a half. The crossing of the 
curves of growth at this time is due to the earlier setting in 
of puberty with girls and the consequent earlier postpubescent 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 45 

acceleration already referred to. But boys continue to grow at 
an accelerated rate for a longer period than girls, hence over- 
take them, ultimately exceeding them in height and weight, 
the difference being greater than during childhood. The first 
year after puberty is also the time of greatest increase in strength. 
With girls there is very little increase in height, and that very 
slow, after seventeen; while boys continue to grow in height 
until nineteen. After this there is a very slow increase in 
height of boys till, perhaps, twenty- three and in weight till 
about twenty-five. According to Dr. D. A. Sargent of Harvard 
University, "it is a question whether most of the weight ac- 
cumulation after twenty-five is not more or less abnormal.'' 
All the foregoing statements concerning growth are based on 
the measurements of large numbers and represent averages; 
whereas the growth of the individual is frequently spasmodic. 
However, those who are working with boys and girls and seek- 
ing their welfare must realize the importance of these physical 
norms as part of their pedagogical equipment. 

All this increase in height and weight means a corresponding 
increase in nearly all the organs and parts of the body, but, 
as already intimated, the increase is not usually proportionate, 
hence the necessity of studying the growth and development 
of the separate parts and organs, which are found to have differ- 
ent rates of increase, each having its own period of acceleration 
and retardation. This complexity of growth which obtains 
among the various parts of the body and the consequent diffi- 
culty that the adolescent experiences in making the proper new 
adjustments accounts for his lack of motor-control and his 
resulting ungainly movements already mentioned. 

As with the body in general, so with the bones; growth is 
not a simple affair. In some cases they grow longer and thicker, 
the thickening being due to the addition of new periosteal layers; 
in other cases they take on new shapes; and they change in 
chemical composition while the process of completing their 



46 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

ossification is going on. The thigh bone, the largest in the 
body, usually has the greatest growth, both relative and ab- 
solute; it grows in both length and thickness; and the individ- 
ual's rapid increase in height is due mainly to the lengthening 
of this bone. In giants the thigh bone is most out of propor- 
tion in length. At this time the pelvis enlarges and in girls 
changes greatly in shape, the change in its vertical axis being 
one of the first adolescent developments in the girl; this change 
leads to certain awkward movements and makes running diffi- 
cult. With girls the development of the pelvis furnishes the 
most exact index of pubertal development. Chest measure- 
ments indicate that there is a slight increase in circumference 
during the first two years of adolescence, and the maximum 
rate of development is reached at fifteen and continues until 
nineteen. In infancy the chest is relatively deepest, and it grows 
broader and flatter till the early teens, when its girth is about 
equal to the sitting height. The face lengthens about an inch 
and grows noticeably broader; the distance between the eyes 
increases; the lower jaw becomes heavier; and the nose be- 
comes more prominent. These modifications, combined with 
others, give rise to a greatly changed facial expression. The 
bones and the muscles lead all the other tissues of the body 
both in growth and in complexity of development. 

It is to the muscles that the body owes much of its weight 
and bulk; and much of the increase in size and weight which 
occurs at puberty is due to growth of muscles, whose relatively 
rapid increase is shown by the following figures. In a child 
of eight the muscles constitute about 27 per cent of his weight; 
^at fifteen they constitute nearly 32 per cent; and at sixteen 
they have jumped to 44 per cent. This great influx of muscular 
energy gives rise to many disturbing effects. For a time the 
bones and the muscles appear to vie with each other in rapidity 
of growth; when the muscles forge ahead, there is a looseness 
of muscles and the consequent clumsiness and lack of coordina- 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 47 

tion; if the bones excel, we have cramps and "growing pains." 
But, when this remarkable increase in size and vigor is nearing 
completion, when coordinations have been established, and 
when the youth is again master of his movements, the net result 
is "a wonderful increase in all the powers that fit him for every 
form of physical effort. As Dr. Hall expresses it, nature arms 
him with "all the resources at her command — speed, power 
of shoulder, biceps, back, leg, jaw — strengthens and enlarges 
skull, thorax, hips, makes man aggressive and prepares woman's 
frame for maternity." Youth is the golden age for training in 
muscular dexterity and endurance, the time when all the per- 
manent physical habits are formed, and the time when pro- 
gress in all kinds of bodily efficiency must be made. The rela- 
tion between muscular welfare on the one hand and health and 
efficiency on the other is so close that various systems of phys- 
ical education have been worked out, giving almost exclusive 
regard to muscular development and training. 

Because of the disproportionate growth of heart muscles and 
arteries during adolescence, there frequently arise temporary 
functional disturbances. Sometimes these take the form of 
sudden fluctuation in the rate of the pulse, palpitation of the 
heart, frequent headaches, or anemia. All these unfavorable 
symptoms are caused by a greatly increased blood pressure. 
The muscles of the heart relative to the size of the arteries have 
greatly increased; according to measurements made by Lan- 
dois, the relation of the size of the heart to the size of the arter- 
ies at birth is 25 to 20, at the beginning of puberty it is 140 to 
50, and at maturity it is 290 to 61. Authorities agree that 
this great change in the ratio of the heart to the arteries and 
the consequent increase in blood pressure is of profound and 
far-reaching significance. The imtoward and disquieting effects 
are only incidental and occasional, without any danger of 
structural derangement; whereas the associated and the aug- 
mented blood pressure (and the connection is doubtless causal) 



48 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

increases metabolism, giving rise to the increased growth al- 
ready described, and the physical and mental activity charac- 
teristic of the period. And there is good reason for believing 
that the slight increase in temperature at puberty, amounting 
to half a degree Fahrenheit, "the psychic intensity," and "the 
emotional prodigality," which will be described, are results of 
blood pressure and arterial tension. Thus, it is apparent that 
this changed relation between the size of the heart, which in- 
creases in muscular power at about the same rate as other parts 
of the body, and the size of the arteries, in which there is a 
much slower rate of growth (continuing, however, long after 
growth has stopped in other parts) is fraught with great possibil- 
ities in the matter of health and individual development of 
every kind; opinion favors the theory that the earlier and 
more marked the growth of heart muscles, the earlier, more 
vigorous, and more complete the development at puberty. 

As we might expect from the decided enlargement and broad- 
ening of the thorax already referred to, there is much growth, 
as well as development, of the lungs during adolescence; this 
is shown by weight of lung tissues, which constitutes in child- 
hood one and a half to two per cent of the body weight and in 
maturity two and one half to three and two fifths per cent. By 
use of the spirometer, the lung capacity and the breathing ca- 
pacity of a large number of people at all ages have been ascer- 
tained with a considerable degree of accuracy. This capacity, 
taken in connection with body weight, gives us an index of 
general vitality. The measurements of a large number of 
pupils indicate that the breathing capacity of girls increases 
rapidly from twelve to fourteen, after which the rate of in- 
crease diminishes till about twenty; and that boys take a sud- 
den start at fourteen and increase very rapidly till sixteen, 
with a slower increase till about nineteen and a half, the max- 
imum of forced expiration coming at sixteen. All experiments 
show that chest and lung development respond very quickly 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 49 

to timely training in the form of proper exercises. Boys seem 
to have a marked advantage over girls in capacity for chest 
and lung development by training, always showing superior 
expansive power. 

The change of voice which occurs at puberty is one of the 
most obvious characteristics of the period, being most marked 
with boys. It is due to the rapid growth of the larynx, with a 
corresponding lengthening of the vocal chords to approximately 
double their former length; according to a well-known law in 
physics, the result is a drop of an octave in the pitch of the 
voice. There comes also at this time an increase in volume 
and usually a pleasanter quality. With the boy it usually 
requires two years to get full control of his new voice in the 
lower register; during these two years he often suffers consid- 
erable embarrassment by reason of the characteristic roughness 
and occasional unexpected "breaking." The change of pitch 
in girls is slight, but there is a very noticeable increase in full- 
ness and richness of quality. 

But the organ, which, for the purpose of our study, as well 
as for the individual, has by far the greatest interest is the 
brain. To our surprise, there is practically no increase in weight 
or size at adolescence. Yet there must occur at this time man- 
ifold changes and remarkable developments in complexity. 
The adolescent is impelled by new instincts; he is alive with 
new emotions and ideals; his intellectual grasp increases by 
leaps and bounds; he is moved by motives which were abso- 
lutely unknown and meaningless to him before; and there 
comes to him a new and sometimes insatiable thirst for ex- 
perience. For all this psychic development there must be a 
physical basis; hence by implication, if there were no other 
way of knowing, there must take place marvelous structural 
developments in the cells and fibers of the maturing brain. 
It is clear that there are at least two psychic phenomena to 
account for; namely, (i) the awakening of new instincts with 



50 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

their resultant emotions and (2) the elaborating of intellectual 
life in general and the marvelous possibilities for the individual 
that lie in this direction. Even before the remarkable studies 
of brain structure made by Donaldson, Kaiser, Cajal, Vulpius, 
Kaes, Flechsig, and others, it was supposed that important 
modifications occur during adolescence, the significant changes 
setting in at the beginning of puberty; since increase in mass is 
slight, it was reasoned that the great functional changes must 
be due to an evolution of texture or change in chemical consti- 
tution or both. 

But what have the studies referred to revealed? There is 
now no doubt about the processes of cell division being com- 
pleted at birth. During the pubertal period the number of 
mature cells doubles, the new cells being developed from gran- 
ules; and, according to the same authority. Kaiser, followed by 
Hall, "in the boy of fifteen, the volume of cell bodies is already, 
on the average, one hundred and twenty-five times their size 
at birth"; thus there occurs during a year or two of early ado- 
lescence a remarkable and significant cell development in the 
form of functional maturing and probably awakening of brain 
tracts hitherto dormant. All this accounts for the new in- 
stinctive tendencies and new emotional experiences, which 
come to occupy the center of the psychic stage and so largely 
dominate the conduct. But, while these important cell and 
tract developments are taking place, there is going on an equally 
important extension and ramification of the fiber processes, 
especially into the higher thought-areas of association. First 
come the tangental fibers, connecting the different parts of 
the cortex; then the systems of fibers among the cortical cells 
slowly evolve, the evolution of some continuing until late in 
life. It seems certain, also, that the later years of adolescence 
are almost as epochful as the earlier years, since the brain in- 
creases enormously in complexity after sixteen, the growth 
extending into regions that were less rich in early adolescence. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 51 

This rapid extension and developing complexity of the various 
fiber systems seem naturally to furnish the physical basis for 
the growth of intelligence which characterizes adolescence and 
takes the form of rational thought, higher logical correlation, 
independence in opinion, and esthetic appreciation. Thus it 
would appear that Aristotle was wise, without knowing the 
physical basis of his doctrine, in assigning fourteen as the age 
at which the education of reason should begin. 

The correctness of all the inferences just made relative to 
the causal relations existing between known developments of 
brain structure and the rapidly maturing psychical powers 
finds much support in the fact that poor nutrition, from what- 
ever cause, always checks the structural development of the 
brain and retards in a serious way nearly all mental growth; 
hence the inference that the two phenomena just described, not 
only parallel each other, but are causally related. Beyond 
doubt, the foregoing emphasizes the fact that this is the forma- 
tive period of life; and we have, as James and others have 
pointed out, in this structural maturing of the brain the physio- 
logical basis of personal development; it is the time par-ex- 
cellent to "help nature." 

Now what is the relation between all this rapid physical 
growth with its accompanying development and the health of 
the adolescent? This is certainly a practical question for all 
who have to do with high-school pupils and high-school prob- 
lems. The opinion seems to be pretty common that this is a 
critical period for the physical as well as the moral welfare of 
the individual, and in a certain sense this is true. The early 
years of adolescence are said to be "the grand court of appeal 
by which weak children are weeded out and only those who 
have sufficient vitality for life's battles renew their strength 
and continue their development." This statement applies, 
perhaps, more correctly to girls, for some of whom pubescence 
is a real physical crisis. In general there is an abatement of 



52 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

the diseases of childhood and an increasing liabihty to the dis- 
eases of maturity; and statistics show a high percentage of 
ill health, but a low percentage of deaths. Both observation 
and vital statistics tend to prove that the vital forces have ac- 
quired a momentum considerably greater than ever before; 
consequently a very high percentage of both sexes pass through 
the crisis safely. The most effective way of measuring vitality 
is to compare the ratio of the number that live to the number 
that die at different ages. Dr. Hartwell's study of the pupils 
of the Boston schools shows that for girls the lowest death rate 
comes at twelve and for boys at thirteen, the ratio being about 
three hundred to one; while at the ages of eight and seventeen 
it is about one hundred and sixty to one. If for any reason 
the physiological maturing comes later, the characteristic vi- 
tality and health also appear later. Thus, for the time that is 
generally considered the most critical for health, vitality, as 
determined by mortality tables based on the Boston studies, 
is almost twice as great as at any other time from birth to ma- 
turity. Axel Key reached practically the same results from his 
study in the Swedish schools. However, vitality and good 
health are not necessarily concomitants at any time in life; 
many people live a long life of invalidism, and their robust 
neighbors die in their prime. At early adolescence the low 
death rate and the accompanying rapid growth, with the signifi- 
cant structural and functional changes, are but the outward 
expression of the deep-lying, strong, vital current, which at 
this time manifests a vigor unknown anywhere else in nature. 
But, if one recalls the manner and conditions of physical 
growth during adolescence, it is not at all surprising that some 
individuals, more especially girls, are subject to various dis- 
turbances and minor ailments. The continuously varying and 
disproportionate growth of the different parts and organs 
of the body must naturally result in unusual strain and 
consequent tendency to functional derangement. The rapid 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 53 

growth of the large muscles of the body incident to adolescence 
and the violent activity incited by this growth call for much 
additional nourishment and place a greatly augmented strain 
on the digestive and circulatory systems; disturbed digestion 
always brings its retinue of troubles; and, as we have seen, the 
heart, due to structural changes, is called upon to pump much 
harder than ever before, its work being frequently greatly in- 
creased by the naturally strong tendency at this time toward 
athleticism. Then, too, the new emotional life, based on the 
developing instincts, which sets in at this time, gives rise to 
many psychological manifestations which act as disturbing 
causes, these manifestations being thus both cause and effect. 
So it is that, while life's current flows strongest, the eddies and 
surgings of the stream are present, agitating and troubling the 
waters; great intensity of life with its compelling impulses is 
not naturally conducive to either physical or spiritual tran- 
quility. 

This chapter might come to a close here; for this ends the 
account of the marvelous and significant physiological changes 
and characteristics of adolescence; but it seems best to add a 
few practical inferences, although these will be developed more 
fully in the appropriate chapters of Part Second of this book. 

The rapidly advancing science of medicine has discovered 
the cause, course, consequences, and cure for many specific 
diseases with which man has long contended in his struggle 
for existence; but it is a biological question that confronts us 
here rather than a pathological condition. The great floods of 
vital energy and the consequent exuberance and enthusiasm 
are likely to mislead teachers and parents, as well as the youth, 
into believing that he can endure anything. This is the time, 
too, when the individual, for reasons already explained, is 
especially susceptible to over stimulation of many kinds; there 
is a strong desire for intense states of mind, this tendency being 
reflected in the extravagant use of superlatives. Also the com- 



54 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

plexity of modern life, with its increased industrial and social 
demands, has come to be responsible for considerable trouble; 
it certainly is at least a contributing cause of much of the ill 
health and physical derangements incident to adolescence, 
not to mention the wreckage of body, mind, and morals. How- 
ever, there are good reasons for believing that all would gener- 
ally go well if the vital forces were conserved and not allowed 
to overflow into the many side channels. The amount of en- 
ergy present and in action is now very great, but the demands 
are also very great and extremely urgent. 

It has already been shown that a comparatively early and 
\/ somewhat prolonged pubescent period is better for individual 
development and is fraught with fewer dangers and less fimc- 
tional disturbance than one deferred to the middle or later 
teens, late maturing often leading to more disquietude and 
irritation and to a loss in development never completely made 
up. This, then, suggests a rule of conduct: prepare for an early 
and safe entrance upon adolescence by establishing and main- 
taining wholesome and hygienic conditions during preadoles- 
cence, when the mental and physical forces are naturally well 
adjusted to environment and there is little that tends to dis- 
turb the equilibrium of the self-centered individual. 

From what has been said concerning the growth and chang- 
ing composition of the bones, it would appear that the system 
during adolescence needs a differently proportioned supply 
of mineral matter; lime especially seems to be required, the 
effect of this demand showing in the "lime hunger'' sometimes 
noticed. These special calls, to meet the changing needs of 
the growing bones, carry with them a practical suggestion con- 
cerning diet. And since the shape and development of the 
bones are affected by posture and strains of every kind, as well 
as by nutrition, much care must be taken with regard to sleeping, 
sitting, and walking positions, and any mode of dressing that 
tends to interfere with the natural development of the bones. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 55 

Because of the circulatory disturbances consequent upon the 
change of ratio between heart muscles and the size of the ar- 
teries with the resulting effects, the heart doubtless needs even 
more consideration than the changing skeleton. The fact that 
there is during adolescence serious danger of over-developing 
the muscles of the heart has recently been forcing itself upon 
experts of various kinds; this danger is greatest with boys. 
The seriousness of the derangement is not apparent until some 
time after the strenuous series of exertions causing the trouble 
has ceased and the demands upon the heart are again normal, 
there being usually no evidences of the evil while the heart 
muscles are building up. More will be said of this in Chapter 
XV, where practical suggestions will be made concerning its 
regimen. 

Breathing capacity, or vital capacity, as it is often called, 
may be developed by proper exercise and training more than 
any other physical capacity. Chest and lung development 
is exceedingly desirable for the purpose of endurance and in 
order to be ready to meet the physical emergencies of life. 
Training in proper breathing, vigorous exercise of any kind in 
the open air continued for a reasonable length of time, and ha- 
bitually good posture of the body will secure for any one the 
maximum development of chest and lungs. 

Music teachers have long discussed the question as to whether 
voice training should continue with boys during the process 
of voice mutation. Opinions of the best authorities now 
pretty well agree with the findings and conclusion reached 
by Dr. Morell MacKensie in his Hygiene of the Vocal Organs^ 
he believes that singing may continue without any bad effects 
if care is taken not to attempt very high or very low notes. It 
is unfortunate to neglect any training during this plastic period 
that will favorably affect the speaking voice; for, due to many 
causes that have often been discussed, American boys and girls 
are Inclined to develop voices that are anything but effective 



56 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

and pleasant. There appears a little later, according to Dr. 
Hall, a new vocal consciousness, shown by the great satisfac- 
tion that both boys and girls often exhibit in all kinds of vocal 
experiments, such as yodeling and passing abruptly from one 
pitch to the extreme opposite. The new interest in voice pos- 
sibilities seems to point clearly to the notion that the time is 
ripe for the training so much desired. 

The digestive troubles that sometimes appear during early 
adolescence should be transitory and unimportant, ceasing when 
their causes no longer exist; and it is believed that they would 
soon disappear if a plain and regular diet were maintained, 
instead of yielding to the capricious appetite characteristic of 
the period, which calls for many unwholesome articles, such 
as pickles and rich and highly seasoned foods. If these diges- 
tive derangements are allowed to continue, they become deep- 
seated and cause much misery and inefficiency throughout 
life. 

In discussing nervous disorders of a functional kind, it must 
at once be conceded that the schools have been guilty of causing 
much harm, which better knowledge and practice must avoid. 
Much of the work of the modern school caUs for an almost con- 
tinuous use of the small accessory muscles, those that "wag 
the tongue and pen," to the exclusion of the larger muscles; 
and this, in the opinion of the experts, has led to the formation 
of a hundred or more automatisms, such as stammering, biting 
the nails, picking the face, winking, and grimacing, all examples 
of dissociated activities involving the use of the smaller mus- 
cles and indicating a lack of coordination and control. T The 
rapid growth of the larger muscles during early adolescence 
demands much physical activity of a vigorous kind; the de- 
mand is strongly felt by both boys and girls; and their systems 
instinctively rebel against the fundamental muscles remaining 
inactive for long periods of time/^nd, because of the unnatural 
restraint, these automatisms appear, as it were, in lieu of the 



PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND CHARACTERISTICS 57 

much-needed larger movements. It seems to be nature's form 
of protest against the impertinent demands of the modern 
school. It is true that these automatisms are somewhat prev- 
alent during childhood; but, as J. W. Slaughter urges, adoles- 
cence is the last chance to cure them; for during the rapid growth 
of early adolescence *' the muscular system and its neural coun- 
terpart undergo extensive rearrangements." There are clearly 
two things necessary to keep matters right, considerable vig- 
orous exercise of the larger muscles and much sleep; the best 
sleep comes from the fatigue of the fundamental muscles, 
"whereas fatigue of the accessory muscles produces that over- 
wrought nervous condition which is a great enemy of sleep at 
all times of life." 

In presenting these suggestions concerning the hygiene of 
adolescence, there has been an attempt to follow the best and 
latest that science has to offer; but it is a case where the 
promptings of common-sense relative to the best way of living 
are in close agreement with science. As we have seen repeatedly, 
adolescence is the formative period in the life of an individual 
in all matters, — physical, mental, social, moral — but in none is 
it more vitally formative than in the matter of health and 
growth; these condition all the others; science and common- 
sense both say, make health and growth paramount. The 
general rules of health, which have long been well known, apply 
admirably to the needs of the adolescent. To meet success- 
fully the sudden strain of the period, the youth must have fresh 
air, nourishing and varied food, much quiet sleep, freedom from 
worry, regular, healthy work (if possible part of it in the open 
air), and a relatively large amount of wholesome social enjoy- 
ment. This all sounds common-place, but it is strictly scien- 
tific. 



CHAPTER V 
MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 

An attempt was made in the preceding chapter to show that 
the maturing of the functions of sex is the central fact and driv- 
ing power of all the wonderful physical growth and the struc- 
tural and functional changes that characterize adolescence. 
It is important at this point to appreciate the significance of 
the fact that this physiological maturing, with the consequent 
physical growth and development, is, not only the background, 
but in a very fundamental way, the cause of the psychic growth 
and reconstruction now to be described. The appearance of 
the stx functions, the physical growth, and the mental develop- \ 
ment are closely connected a.nd vitally bound together, so/ 
that any caus^ which retards or in any way interferes mth 7 
either of the first two influences in a corresponding manner 
interferes with the third. The mental reconstruction which 
is due at this time is so marked and fundamental in its nature 
that the term "new birth" is still applicable, the only difference 
being that we pass from the realm of the physical to that of 
the spiritual. As Hall asserts, "the floodgates of heredity are 
thrown open again as in infancy;" if we accept the recapitula- 
tion theory, youth rapidly repeats the experiences of a "later 
and more human ancestry;" "heredity is bestowing its latest 
and therefore highest gifts;" hence this is the time when a 
new and unique mental life should be taking shape. 

It was found, on the physiological side, that adolescence 
means, along with the general growth in height and weight, 
a more or less independent change in size and function of every 
part and organ of the body, the variation in rate of growth 

58 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 59 

being so marked that it would almost seem that first one organ 
and then another obtains a temporary monopoly of the supply 
of nutrition. When we pass to the mental life of this period, 
we find something quite analogous; psychic life, too, appears 
to grow in segments, as indicated by the erratic manner in 
which the intellectual interests and occupations of this period 
change; and this shifting of the mental focus may be taken as 
one of the characteristics of the phase of adolescence we are 
now to study. To the observer this frequent changing of the 
intellectual interests may have the appearance of whim or fad; 
but it is without doubt one of the laws of mental development 
during adolescence. While the interest holds, there is usually 
great concentration with its consequent advantages for mental 
training. 

But more fundamental than this growth of the mind by sec- 
tions is the entirely new attitude toward life itself whjch is 
manifested at this time. In six months the adolescent adopts 
new companions and indulges in new forms of amusement; 
the color fades from his juvenile sympathies; his intellectual 
curiosity is quickened and seeks new fields; he thinks new 
thoughts, and becomes passionately eager to understand the 
material and social worlds in which he finds himself; he wants 
to "get behind the scenes" and learn how the machinery works; 
new powers and faculties are born, which begin at once to play 
upon problems more complex or before non-existent; the old 
landmarks, which served so efficiently in his preadolescent 
days, are rapidly vanishing, and he instinctively and eagerly 
looks for new ones; life moves on a higher level, for early adoles- 
cence is "the infancy of man's higher nature;" and above all 
a new emotional life, naturally very ardent, makes its appear- 
ance. The boy has become a man; the girl has become a 
woman. 

As already indicated, all this is so vitally dependent upon 
the change from an asexual to a sexual life that we logically 



6o PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

proceed to a consideration of the sex instincts which now ap- 
pear. 

Biological science makes a distinction between the structural 
and functional characteristics that are directly involved in 
the reproductive processes and those which are only accessory 
and aid the process in some indirect way; these are known in 
science as the primary characters and the secondary characters 
of sex. This scientific distinction is important in both psycho- 
logical and pedagogical discussion respecting the influence of 
sex. The primary instincts are those directly concerned with 
race preservation and are not pertinent to the present study. 
But a knowledge of the secondary sex characters is important 
for this discussion, and especially from a pedagogical viewpoint. 
In general these secondary instincts are manifested in the form 
of attempted adornment and many modes of "showing off." 
The boy enjoys putting forth his best efforts in all forms of 
physical prowess when in the presence of the opposite sex: he 
runs faster, plays the game harder, and steps with a more manly 
and dashing stride. Girls, on their part, are more painstaking 
in their appearance: they walk and sit more gracefully, in- 
dulge in more smiles, and speak with softer and more richly 
cadenced tones. Each is naturally brighter and more alert 
when in the other's presence. Again, the desire for travel and 
in general the impulse to widen the social horizon, so character- 
istic of adolescence, are examples of the same secondary sex 
characters. It is not claimed that the individual is always 
conscious of the connection between these various accessory sex 
manifestations and his sex life; but the chief motor force is 
the developing sex instinct, and the real connections are readily 
seen in most instances by the student of these phenomena. 

There is an interesting analogy between these secondary sex 
traits as they appear in the human family and what occurs in 
the animal kingdom at the mating season. Dr. Hall has called 
attention to how at this time the whole animal world becomes 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 6l 

more beautiful, and "life overflows in bright colors." Crests, 
combs, wattles, erectile hairs, horns, bright spots, increased 
plumage, and all the other adornments of animal life indicate 
"high blood pressure and increased tension of life" and "herald 
the spring-time awakening; and the air is full of the season's 
mating noises and sweet songs; almost every animal becomes 
vocal and many become charming because of new color or 
form." 

Very interesting and subtile are the endless ramifications and 
irradiations of the sex instinct in mental life, but they must 
not be interpreted in any narrow sense. Without doubt for 
a time the influence of sex maturing naturally occupies in the 
mental life of the adolescent a central and dominant place; 
but, if his life is hygienic, his social surroundings wholesome, and 
if he has opportunities for normal self-expression, the instincts 
expand and become diffused, irradiating many allied fields and 
interests; they enrich the life in later youth and are the elements 
from which are built up the more pleasing phases of personality. 
These secondary impulses sometimes find expression in a new 
appreciation of nature, poetry, and art. It is at this time that 
"mother nature again takes her child upon her knee" and gives 
lessons necessary to the perfect rounding out of the individual. 
It is from this source that the finer human sentiments take 
their rise, and esthetic enjoyment and expression have here 
their beginning. 

But life at this time is generally fraught with many perils 
as well as great possibilities. Months of dangerous mental 
and emotional turmoil are not uncommon. Knowledge of 
self is less adequate now than at any other period of life; for 
the inner world is changed and continually changing, and the 
outer world has taken on new aspects, while the ego is trying 
to find a new center. The intellect, although rapidly gaining 
in vigor, is far from supreme at this time; it is darkened 
by the storm-clouds of new sensations and strange passions, 



62 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

and desire often betrays the judgment. Moreover, the mind 
is doubtless pushed and pulled by the old desires and ancient 
hates of ancestors that many thousand years ago struggled for 
a higher human life. And, most unfortunately and inexcusably, 
all the adolescent tastes and instinctive tendencies have been 
commercialized in many harmful and attractive forms: the 
public dance-hall, with its dangerous associations; the cheap, 
sensational novel, with its vivid suggestiveness; the low-class 
theater, with its immodest costumes and questionable plays; 
and other institutions that are worse. All these stand ready 
to influence the thinking, if not the conduct, of adolescents 
for whom they were ingeniously devised. 

Because for several years so many mental processes center 
in sex and its functions and thus endanger the adolescent, it 
is very urgent that those responsible should be alert to see that 
the normal course of development is not thwarted and that 
the sex susceptibilities and impulses of the period are ''long- 
circuited," as Hall expresses it; that is, that they are dispersed 
by providing abundant opportunities for safely satisfying the 
expanding nature. This can often be done by carefully managed 
athletic competition, wholesome literature that really appeals, 
work in debating, musical organizations, dancing under proper 
conditions, and any other form of activity that will keep the 
mind healthfully occupied and make the proper social appeal. 
But it must be admitted, as Jane Addams suggests, "It is 
neither a short nor an easy undertaking to substitute the love 
of beauty for mere desire, to place the mind above the senses; 
but is not this the sum of the immemorial obligation which 
rests upon the adults of each generation if they would nurture 
and restrain the youth, and has not the whole history of civil- 
ization been but one long effort to substitute psychic impulsion 
for the driving force of blind appetite?" In order to be ready 
and competent to render to rapidly developing youths the ser- 
vices so much needed to guide their mental life into safe and 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 6$ 

fruitful paths, it would seem necessary, as part of the equipment, 
to have a thorough and sympathetic knowledge of the psychol- 
ogy of this critical period; and it is hoped that this and the 
next two chapters will aid somewhat in giving this knowledge. 
Sex education is discussed in Chapter XVIII. 

There are many peculiar and seemingly anomalous examples 
of the long-circuiting of the sex instincts, already referred to, 
that emerge at puberty and develop during adolescence. Some 
of these long-circuitings take the form of sex charms and fet- 
ishes, of which Dr. Hall gives a full and interesting account. 
The characteristics which tend to arouse the strangely com- 
pelling likes and dislikes of this period of sex susceptibility are 
frequently the most trivial matters, but they always seem to 
have to do with personal appearance in some way. It is under- 
stood that the traits or features classed as charms or fetishes do 
not in any way affect their possessor biologically. According 
to the study of these secondary qualities made by Hall, the 
traits mediating for sexual attraction on young men or women 
in their teens stand in the following order: eyes, hair, stature 
and size, feet, brows, complexion, cheeks, form of head, throat, 
ears, chin, hands, neck, nose, nails and fingers, shape of the 
face. The tastes at this time of life are often strangely special- 
ized; a large per cent lay much stress upon the color of the 
hair, or the length of the eye lashes, or the condition of the 
finger nails or teeth, or the contour of the neck, or the manner 
of walking, or the quality of the voice, or the mode of laughing, 
or some other trait or feature just as non-essential, yet consti- 
tuting the basic material for romantic love. Hall's study shows 
also that dislikes are just as striking and their basis equally 
trivial; they include features, ways of dressing, personal habits, 
and mannerisms. 

The skilful novelist makes his readers aware of how strangely 
the adolescent's mind moves in these matters, how powerfully 
they influence him, and how they are woven into his ideal of 



64 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

personal beauty and attractiveness; thus in the carefully writ- 
ten descriptions of the heroes and heroines particular mention 
is made of many insignificant details; these details are exhib- 
ited, not as they affect people in general, but as they dominate 
the mind of the one who is coming under the influence of their 
possessor. The probable explanation of these seemingly ab- 
surd special preferences and strange whims of the adolescent 
is that they are associated unconsciously with an attractive 
personaHty of the opposite sex and 'instinctively organized 
as parts of a larger whole," thus becoming fused and identified 
with the personality; that is, the peculiar influence, which 
sometimes amounts to a sex fetish, is due to its setting rather 
than the trait or quality which appears to constitute the charm. 

Furthermore, these traits which were during the earlier part of 
the period objects of direct attraction frequently become greatly 
modified or even reversed in their influence over the mind, so 
that the final choice of a life companion may fall upon an in- 
dividual with an opposite set of qualities and characteristics 
from those which constituted the more youthful ideal; this 
modification or reversal is likely to occur as the end of the ado- 
lescent period approaches. This phenomenon connected with' 
the long-circuiting of the sex instincts appears to support the 
explanation of the erratic workings of the adolescent mind 
offered in the preceding paragraph. At any rate, because of 
the strangeness of the whole matter and because these aberra- 
tions are more or less evanescent, the degree to which they 
enter into the psychology of adolescence is probably not gen- 
erally appreciated by the mature mind. 

It is without doubt due to the sex instincts, manifesting them- 
selves in an indirect and unconscious way, that one of the fre- 
quent S3rmptoms of developing adolescence is the impulse, 
sometimes very strong, to seek new environment. Although 
this is an extremely complex impulse, it is classed by psychol- 
ogists as an instinct. How much of the activity that is gener- 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 65 

ally attributed to this migratory instinct is due merely to love 
of adventure and restless desire for action is difficult to deter- 
mine. Teachers and parents are aware that during early and 
middle adolescence attacks of "spring fever" are more liable to 
occur than at other times, and that this characteristic unrest 
shows itself in the form of truancy and other irregularities, which 
indicate only too clearly that youth is not naturally tolerant of 
the restraints and routine of the schoolroom and the home. 
The impulse is so strong and the yearning so great and some- 
times so protracted that it is a veritable wanderlust and has 
without doubt an instinctive basis. It has been suggested that, 
because this migratory instinct is so common and often exer- 
cises such a controlling influence, the high school may well 
turn it to account by planning educational trips and excursions 
of various kinds; these can easily be made to contribute much 
to the school work in science, history, and geography. In 
the German schools such trips have been organized as a regular 
part of the school work; and this has been done to some ex- 
tent around Boston and central New York. This may well 
be undertaken where the school is located near places of literary, 
historic, and geological interest. At any rate, this migratory 
instinct, which is best accounted for as a ramification of the 
sex instinct, is present and often impulsive, and the teachers 
and parents who are wise and S3mipathetic will make the most 
of it. 

In general we may be sure that the more ways that the all- 
compelling sex instincts can be long-circuited and interwoven 
with other life interests and made to irradiate the whole life 
and personality, the safer and better it will be for the individ- 
ual. There are clearly great possibilities which lie in this di- 
rection, possibilities for enriching and beautifying the character, 
as well as serious dangers which result from a focusing of the 
impulses natural to this time of life. 

At the same time that these deep-seated sex developments^ 



66 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

with all their vital and far-reaching consequences, are going on, 
there is taking place an unfolding of the senses and their manner 
of functioning, which, though not as striking and mysterious, 
is very important to, the work of education. At the time that 
E. G. Lancaster published the results of his well-known ques- 
tionnaire^ it came to be believed that there is a conspicuous sharp- 
ening and strengthening of the senses during the period of ado- 
lescence; but laboratory experiments do not confirm this 
theory. It is true that the adolescent sees, hears, and feels in 
a way that is new to him; this, however, is not necessarily due 
to any change in the structure or fimctions of the sense organs, 
but is due largely to the new emotional setting which the exer- . 
cise of the sense organs comes to have. The "new aspects of 
beauty" which come to youth with so much potency and make 
him feel frequently that he is living in a new world do not have 
their origin in any organic changes in the retina or crystalline 
lens. The change is subjective in the fullest sense of the term. 
The thing that has really happened is the same in character and 
origin as we have in Wordsworth and the other nature poets 
when they see in the fields and woods and brooks the changing 
moods which they describe so vividly and sympathetically; 
many adolescents are for a time young poets. When the girl 
at seventeen hears the chiming of bells three miles distant, we 
must not infer that her organs of hearing have become more 
acute; it means that power of attention and interests have 
changed; the modification is central instead of peripheral; 
her attitude in this instance, as in many other matters, has 
changed. 

Whatever may be the true explanation, whether central or 
central and peripheral in its origin, the senses undergo such a 
marked change in their manner of functioning that it is pedagog- 
ically important to understand and utilize this awakening. All 
artistic and creative success in the last analysis depends upon 
carefully and accurately trained senses; and the training to 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 67 

be most successful must occur at the time when the various 
sense organs are most plastic; and the training should be based 
on an accurate knowledge of the real nature of the changes 
going on. It is said that if a young duck is kept away from 
the water six months it will never learn to swim; the water- 
seeking and using instincts will die. Those arts which require 
the highest degree of efl&ciency in the use of the senses must be 
cultivated during the nascent period of sense development, 
otherwise it is a case of keeping the duck away from the water. 
Furthermore, psychology has long taught that the higher 
processes of mental development are closely and causally con- 
nected with the evolution of the senses. Hence the next few 
paragraphs are devoted to a description and discussion of the 
quantitative and qualitative changes in the functioning of 
the various senses during adolescence. 

First, with regard to touch; there appears at pubescence "a 
new kind of dermal consciousness." There is a tendency to 
give increased attention to the skin; it was probably due to 
this changed interest in dermal sensations and conditions that 
the ancient Romans and Orientals developed at adolescence 
such a passion for the bath and unguents. During the early 
years of adolescence a muddy complexion and eruptions of 
the skin are rather common, especially with girls that suffer 
any abnormality in their development. There often comes with 
this roughness of the skin a strong desire to remove the cause; 
hence, is formed the disagreeable habit, sometimes almost ir- 
resistible, of picking at the skin and pulling out hairs regardless 
of the irritation or pain that may results The glands which 
supply the skin with oil and moisture become more active at 
puberty, and the skin becomes more glossy, thus affecting the 
personal appearance at a time when it naturally receives much 
thought; this frequently gives rise voluntarily to new habits 
of bathing and use of cosmetics. Also there is likely to develop 
at this period marked likes and dislikes for contact with others, 



68 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

which occasionally take the form of permanent idiosyncrasies. 
The feeling of smoothness and softness in connection with the 
skin of others frequently develops into an exquisite sensation 
and there comes with it a strong desire to supply stimulus by 
hand-shaking, patting, stroking, and caressing. Sometimes 
strong and sudden likes and dislikes, that seem to be deep- 
seated especially with girls, have their origin in a sensitiveness 
to the quality and texture of the skin; hence for some people 
at this time promiscuous hand-shaking, as at a reception, is 
very distasteful. Again, this newly awakened dermal con- 
sciousness brings about a changed feeling with regard to dress 
and the exposure of parts of the body; the new sentiment may 
be either to cover or to uncover in a way hitherto not desired. 
Closely allied to this matter under discussion, and arising from 
the same cause, is an augmented consciousness of anything 
that in any manner affects the contour of the body. As to 
skin hygienics. Dr. Hall recommends a rugged life with vigor- 
ous stimulating of the skin in almost any way, especially fre- 
quent cold baths and much use of rough towels, as tending to 
prevent the focusing of consciousness on sex organs and func- 
tions, and contributing to the general health, happiness, and 
well-being of the individual. 

The sense of taste, which has so much to do in determining 
what kind and form of nutrition the body shall have, comes to 
have a much wider range during adolescence, and the appetite 
is liable to become more capricious. The latest studies of 
metabolism seem to indicate that each cell and tissue of the 
body has its own specific hunger and that appetite, when not 
perverted, is a general summing up of all the consequent cell- 
cravings; this explains the new likings that appear at this time. 
More food is needed to furnish material to the rapidly develop- 
ing tissues; and, because the relative rate of growth of each 
part varies in such a peculiar way, as we have already noted 
in the preceding chapter, the relative demands for the different 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 69 

food elements also vary in a peculiar manner and with each 
individual. Milk, which is often taken with pleasure and in 
large quantities, becomes distasteful, and more solid food is 
desired. The increase in the size of the jaw-bone, already men- 
tioned, and the enlarging of the muscles of mastication better 
aid in preparing the new foods. It is even said that the prev- 
alent gum-chewing habit culminates at this time and affords 
work for the developing muscles. Extreme Ukes and dislikes 
in the matter of food are likely to arise; nearly always more 
animal food is wanted, also foods with a bitter taste; and the 
tastes for both sweets and acids are changed, sometimes in- 
creased and sometimes decreased. New articles of diet become 
interesting and must be tried; and there is often an unsettled 
period when tastes are fluctuating and even freakish. All 
tends toward the establishment of a new equilibriimi with larger 
variety as its basis. There is, too, at this time a tendency to 
determine choice of food by psychic notions; often because of 
social or supposedly hygienic reasons new tastes are cultivated 
by sheer force of will ; many people have to learn to like green 
olives, ripe tomatoes, and oysters; and these tastes are usually 
cultivated during the early teens. But there are unfortunate 
tendencies connected with the changing tastes, as well as with 
nearly all the changes incident to adolescence. Stimulants, 
narcotics, and condiments are often passionately desired. This 
tendency is probably due as much to the increased nervous 
tension and fondness for novel sensations and experiences as 
it is to the changing demands of the developing organs. There 
is, also, frequently a tendency to irregularity in the time of 
eating and the quantity of food desired. Notwithstanding all 
these troublesome tendencies, a well-balanced and comprehen- 
sive dietary is especially needed at adolescence; for every or- 
gan and tissue must be able to get from the blood which flows 
through it the kind and quantity of nutriment it requires for 
its upbuilding, and, as we know, the needs are great and vary- 



70 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

ing. The eating habits should receive attention. Hygienic 
considerations demand that aversions which interfere with 
a broad and balanced dietary should when possible be 
overcome; the appetite must be kept true to the needs of the 
body if the demands of the higher metabolism are to be met; and 
it is difficult to adopt a new food after physiological maturity. 

The sense of smell, which is usually so undeveloped in the 
adult, is closely connected with and often greatly influences 
taste. It is most exquisitely developed in girls at the beginning 
of puberty; and boys from fourteen to eighteen are more sen- 
sitive to all odors except musk. This is the time, especially 
with girls, when the fragrance of flowers gives more pleasure, 
and is more finely discriminated, when there is an increased 
interest in perfumes, girls being very fond of perfumed writ- 
ing paper, handkerchiefs, and soap, their tastes in these matters 
varying greatly. There is much evidence that tends to 
prove that the associations of this sense are strong and deep, 
although often subconscious; a bad breath or other disa- 
greeable personal odor may blight a friendship. Thus even 
the sense of smell comes to have a social outlook at this period, 
and like the other senses and faculties, exhibits greater alert- 
ness and sensitiveness. 

In early adolescence, when the voice is changing, there comes 
a new vocal consciousness. As the voice increases in range, it 
is probable that the scale of audibility falls slightly, some of 
the higher notes losing their power to please and the lower 
ones gaining appreciation; this experience was very marked 
with the present writer. This of course is entirely different 
from the ability to hear high notes, which reaches its limit 
in the early years of adolescence. Lancaster found that in 
the case of 464 out of the 556 young people studied there was 
an increase in the love of music, a new fondness for rhythm and 
melody, the pleasure derived culminating at fifteen and drop- 
ping off rapidly after sixteen. The interest in music which 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 71 

suddenly develops at this time occasionally amounts to a pas- 
sion; young people buy musical instruments, voluntarily be- 
come enthusiastic about music lessons (usually very irksome 
to children), and are filled with the notion that a great musical 
career is before them. For those who have already gained 
some proficiency in music there awakens a new interest in 
"the concourse of sweet sounds" and they think of this new 
talent as a means of giving expression to feelings and emotions 
otherwise unutterable. In a large majority of cases this en- 
thusiasm is extremely transient, lasting but a year or two. 
However, those who have real musical ability make wonderful 
progress during this period. Although much can be done to- 
ward mastering the technique of musical performance during 
preadolescence, adolescence is the time for the great soul-awak- 
ening influences of the world's masterpieces; for the synthetic 
powers of the mind are now able to unite the many parts of 
these compositions into one harmonious whole, and there comes 
now a new responsiveness to accent, timbre, and cadences (the 
soul-qualities), and to the language of music in its larger as- 
pects. There seems to be deep significance, suggestive of 
fruitful possibilities, in the concurrent development of the new 
vocal consciousness and this increased responsiveness to the 
influence of music; there is clearly a close connection between 
the ear and the emotional life, which during adolescence is 
so much of life. It forcibly presents a double possibility, (i) 
the possibility of long-circuiting some of the troublesome vital 
energy that is now developing and with it irradiating the whole 
nature of the individual, thus safe-guarding and enriching him 
in his time of turmoil, and (2) the possibility of cultivating in- 
dividual talents and powers and bringing to light elements of 
personality which can be reached only at this time. Without 
doubt music, like other forms of art, tends to create the same 
emotional states which produced it; thus the spells which the 
best music casts and the raptures which it stirs would seem 



72 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

naturally to be a harmonizing and tranquilizing influence, 
making for pleasure, safety, and richer character. 

It is well to note in this connection that the adolescent often 
becomes especially sensitive to the sounds in nature and re- 
sponds to them in ways that are entirely new. At this time, 
as one of our American poets during his adolescence sympathet- 
ically expressed it, 

"To him who in the love of nature holds 
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
A various language; for his gayer hours 
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile 
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 
Into his darker musings, with a mild 
And heahng sympathy, that steals away 
Their sharpness, ere he is aware." 

The emotional response to the sounds of nature here described 
by Bryant, when she speaks the language of the heart, is an- 
other symptom of the poetical awakening that may come with 
dawning adolescence. 

The way in which the power of vision unfolds during ado- 
lescence is pedagogically suggestive. At the age of fifteen, the 
judgment of form is most correct, boys being more accurate 
than girls; whereas from six to ten, girls are more accurate in 
their judgment of form than boys. According to studies made 
by Griffing, the maximimi number of letters seen at one time 
increases rapidly from puberty to maturity. All visual es- 
timates improve and show closer relation between retinal sen- 
sations and psychic processes. There appears at this time much 
greater power to discriminate the finer differences in faces, 
and other personal features such as style of walking and fit of 
clothing; this is without doubt due largely to modification of 
interests. The social and esthetic surroundings take on new 
interest and meaning; and there comes a power to discern 
beauty in s)nnmetry and proportion, and things are perceived 
in larger units. The adolescent often revels in color, which 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 73 

makes a stronger appeal than mere form and proportion; the 
hues of things in outdoor nature, like their sounds, give increased 
pleasure and take on new meanings, sometimes becoming sug- 
gestive and symbolical. What was once mere fields, hills, and 
trees now becomes scenery to be admired, enjoyed, and de- 
scribed. Chromatic sensibiUty reaches its maximum of acute- 
ness in girls at sixteen. This sense is frequently satisfied only 
by bright colors and striking contrasts, the taste for delicate 
tints and subdued tones appearing later. During early and 
middle adolescence color preferences often change and are 
sometimes reversed; to the present writer certain shades of 
green give the most pleasure, whereas during preadolescence 
green was the color most disliked. This development of the 
visual sense and this lively interest in all that appeals to the 
eye clearly suggests that this is the time for effective artistic 
training; in the earlier stages of the work the emphasis should 
be given to color and color effects; the sense of beauty that 
lies in form, proportion, and symmetry may later have its "in- 
ning." At any rate, it is important that the instinctive interest 
in color and form which now appears should be made to bear 
normal fruit by timely and suitable training in some kind 
of art. 

These are some of the developments in sense perception that 
occur at the beginning of or during adolescence, each sense and 
its corresponding organ maturing in its own characteristic 
manner. But there are many general characteristics in the 
evolution of sense perception at this time. Before adolescence, 
sense stimuli tend to reflex action, whereas adolescent develop- 
ment is in the direction of delayed and better organized re- 
sponses to stimuli. There is a noticeable increase in the associ- 
ative functions of the mind; there comes to be more delibera- 
tion and reflection; the material brought into the brain through 
the various senses is worked over, as it were, and elaborated 
before the finished product is returned through the efferent 



74 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

system; as science expresses it, there is greatly "increased 
cerebral irradiation," and this naturally reacts upon the sense 
organs and causes them to function more perfectly. What 
happens may be compared to a great manufacturing plant ex- 
changing a mechanically-minded, routine-regulating superin- 
tendent for a man full of initiative and originality and able to 
elaborate and profit by his experiences; the workers at once 
become more efficient and show new interest in their perform- 
ances. Besides this increased elaboration of the sensations, 
there is an increased tendency to project the sensations, and 
along with this objectification of the sensations comes new 
possibilities for enjoyment; the discomfitures, also, as well as 
the pleasures, resulting from sense experiences are more keenly 
felt. Moreover, there is little doubt but that there is built 
into the sensorium during adolescence the power to discriminate 
many new sensations. Kiilpe claims that about 14000 is the 
maximum number of different sensations that can be distin- 
guished; and there probably comes at this period of reconstruc- 
tion many changes in the relative psychic importance of the 
various sensations. 

All this awakening and elaborating of the sense organs and 
sense experiences can be understood and interpreted as one of 
the secondary sex characteristics; for, as sex life develops, 
the growing organs send to the brain a new and confused mass 
of sensations, at first, perhaps, not even localized, which give 
to the individual the characteristic feeling of intensified exist- 
ence. 

The following statements by Dr. Hall emphasize the more 
important general features of sense development during this 
period and indicate the practical aspects of the subject for those 
who deal with adolescents. "Adolescent years mark the golden 
age of sense, which is so prone to become sensual if uncontrolled. 
Then the soul exposes most surface, as it were, to the external 
world. The eye gate and ear gate especially are open widest, 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 75 

... SO that the possibUity of knowing our world and acquir- 
ing experience on the one hand, and of lapsing to a life of in- 
dulgence [on the other], are now most developed." "Every 
centripetal nerve glows and tingles with new life, and every 
in-going fiber is freighted and even gorged with the trafl&c of 
impressions. Never is the body so imperiously dominant and 
so insistently in evidence, and never is the external world so 
ineluctable and impressively real, as in this impressionistic 
age. Never is objective and subjective experience so vivid 
and manifold. Youth is in its world, in the closest rapport 

with it possible to man All this is his right and his 

necessity, only it must neither lead to perversion or become so 
overwhelmingly absorbing as to cause arrest or degeneration." 
The pedagogical import of all this is clear and impressive: the 
adolescent has such urgent claims upon the external world and 
so rapidly are these claims filed, that one must realize that 
"now is the accepted time." 

The psychology of adolescence would be strangely incom- 
plete without an account of the development of the sentiment 
of love, for its development is the most vitally significant and 
characteristic phase of the whole period. R. S. Bourne says: 
"Youth expresses itself by falling in love. . . . The youth is 
swept away by a flood of love. He has learned to value, and 
how superlative and magnificent are his values!" Bourne here 
points out the tendency of a force that may remain latent, and 
he suggests the impetuosity of that force when it becomes ac- 
tive. Although this sentiment sometimes appears suddenly, 
comes from the depths of a young life, and for a time sweeps 
everything before it, in organization and manner of develop- 
ment it resembles the other sentiments based on instinct, the 
only difference being the motor-force behind it. For condi- 
tions of growth this sentiment, as Slaughter has pointed out, 
depends upon "a succession of emotional experiences in rela- 
tion to an object;" in this it is like other sentiments based on 



76 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

instinct. The relation between the sexes, with all the complex 
and subtile irradiations, certainly involves the whole psycho- 
logical field; but a description of this is not attempted here; 
our interest is in the irradiations and the indirect but powerful 
influences which have love for their source. It may be asserted 
at the beginning that there is no such thing as a typical develop- 
ment of the sentiment of love. The brief account of the stages 
or kinds of love which follow is based on the studies of Sanford 
Bell and others as reported by Dr. Hall in his Adolescence; 
these studies seem to have influenced recent writings on the 
subject. 

The first form of love between the sexes, if such it can be 
called, is the infantile love which appears before the age of 
eight. It is in the nature of a fondness for each other's com- 
pany, is transparent, entirely lacking in self-consciousness, free 
from shyness, seems to be sexless, and the purest sort of tem- 
porary afl&nity; thus it may be called Platonic. Little gifts, 
especially things to eat, are exchanged; and a mild form of 
jealousy may appear in connection with it. Whatever this 
manifestation may be or whatever its origin, it is probably "ex- 
otic, like infant piety;" it is possible there is an element of 
imitation in it; and it is probably not instinctive in any strong 
sense. Both science and common-sense suggest that these 
little love-like performances should be ignored by adults or 
at least not encouraged; they may be amusing, but so far as 
is now known, they have little significance and are transitory 
when elders are wise enough to leave them alone. 

The next stage is juvenile liking, which makes its appearance 
during the periods of preadolescence and early adolescence, 
some time between eight and fourteen. Biologically this stage 
is very interesting; it is the human counterpart of the mating 
season of animals. The developments at this time are self- 
conscious and frequently secretive. Now appears for the first 
time a keen interest in some one of the opposite sex; but we 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 77 

must not expect this interest to be openly avowed; these sen- 
timents of affection are expressed by indirect and covert ways. 
It is the age of motto, candy, keepsakes, valentines, picture 
cards, and the like. It is the age, too, of love games, for these 
make an opportunity for giving expression to the feelings of 
the participants under cover of the game. Among the eighty- 
three games played by the Washington children, Babcock found 
thirty love games, in which the charm seemed to be choosing a 
partner and expressing in some way under the rules of the game 
the sentiment which the players naturally conceal. It is the 
stage of love that furnished the motive for Whittier's poem 
"In School-Days." At this time the boy suddenly begins to 
give heed to his personal appearance; his mother's habitual 
reminders with regard to combing his hair, brushing his teeth, 
and cleaning his shoes are no longer needed. In the days of 
chivalry the knight tilted under the rules of the tournament 
in the presence of his lady-love; but our hero contents him- 
self with showing off when trying to attract the favorable atten- 
tion of some girl of his age. He talks loud, indulges in horse- 
play, scuffles, turns somersaults, hangs by his legs from trees, 
seizes and handles roughly without provocation some boy that 
happens to be at hand, or performs some other antics that he 
thinks will command attention and be admired. In the mean- 
time the girl on her part assumes an attitude of indifference; 
if she vouchsafes any attention, she gives it furtively and from 
a distance, although sometimes, contrary to what is generally 
expected, she is less guarded than he is. However, all the time 
she sees and understands the whole situation. This is the 
stage of love that breaks out in the springtime, for which there 
is probably a biological reason. The adult's attitude toward it 
is frequently one of annoyance; but the tactful teacher or par- 
ent can easily make use of this juvenile sentiment to secure 
better work and conduct. 
There is another form of love that sometimes appears at this 



78 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

age or even later; it is the juvenile affection for an older per- 
son of the opposite sex. On the part of the younger person 
there is great admiration and fervent devotion; while on the 
part of the older person there is usually sympathetic and kindly 
treatment. From the standpoint of biology this form is not 
easily understood, but psychologically it is very interesting. 
It is usually characterized by less fickleness while it lasts than 
the liking of boys and girls of similar age, due perhaps to the 
mature stability and constancy of the older person, who for 
the time being serves as an ideal for the younger. This phase 
of love should always be thought of and treated as transitory. 
This form appears most frequently in the sentimental attach- 
ment which a young boy develops for his teacher if she is an 
attractive young lady; he will gladly forego play and the society 
of his mates and remain after school to render a possible ser- 
vice; he frequently overwhelms the object of his affection with 
gifts of flowers and fruit; and he is in every way thoroughly 
devoted. Although difficult to understand and in a way un- 
natural, the situation can easily be made an opportunity for 
much helpful influence; for the older person, when strong and 
intelligent, can aid in fixing high ideals, especially by living 
a life worthy of the conscious or unconscious imitation of the 
youthful admirer. It is possible that the situation may de- 
velop into a lack of independence and a condition of parasitism 
on the part of the younger person, and this at a time when 
there should come considerable independence of thought and 
action; this is of course unfortunate, for it interferes seriously 
with personal development. 

The next stage in the development of adolescence so far as 
the sentiment of love is concerned is not so clearly defined; 
and there is less agreement as to the exact age to which it 
should be assigned, some writers claim that it belongs to early 
adolescence. The period is marked by a strange tendency of 
the sexes to withdraw temporarily from each other. The boy 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 79 

sometimes becomes ashamed to associate with girls, as this 
would seem to interfere with asserting his manhood, and many 
strange and new interests are now absorbing his attention. He 
has new problems to solve and there are new views to be clarified. 
Hall calls attention to the fact, that "nearly every known prim- 
itive race now isolates the sexes for a time from each other, and 
perhaps this ancient practice now appears as an instinct which 
reenforces the necessity for a period of restraint." At any 
rate, it is a time when boys find masculine company more con- 
genial; at this time boys argue the disadvantages of coeduca- 
tion. This tendency to withdrawal does not appear quite so 
strong or well marked in girls, yet it is at this age that girls 
often choose the life of the convent. Pedagogically it is a per- 
iod well suited to cultivate and develop in boys all the peculiarly 
manly traits and virtues and in girls the finer and gentler 
womanly qualities, the traits and qualities which give to the 
later adolescent of either sex so much charm. 

The final stage in the development of this sentiment under 
discussion comes toward the close of adolescence. Now "the 
age of love, in the full and proper sense of the word, slowly 
supervenes when body and soul are mature." The sentiment 
now takes on a fuller and richer meaning; biologically and psy- 
chologically adulthood is the true mating time for human beings; 
but it does not come within the scope of a book dealing with 
high-school adolescence and problems incident to secondary 
education to describe or discuss this last stage in the develop- 
ment of love. 

We now pass in our study from these interesting realms of 
instincts, sensations, and sentiments to the realm of thought. 
Mental maturing in the individual always follows and requires 
more time than physical maturing. It has been shown in a 
preceding chapter how great is the variation in maturing on 
the physical side; there are marked variations as to age, time 
required, and manner of unfolding; therefore it cannot be other- 



8o PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

wise on the mental side. In general it must be kept in mind 
that variations appear repeatedly as one of the laws of adoles- 
cent growth and development. 

There comes a time in the life of many early adolescents, 
generally pretty closely associated with the pubertal period, 
when it would seem that the rapidly occurring physiological 
changes interfere for a season with the remarkable develop- 
ment of the brain which is about due; so it happens occasion- 
ally that there is a brief period, lasting a year or more, of com- 
parative stagnation on the mental side. The new physical 
impulses, which are not yet understood, seem to keep the mind 
in a state of uncertainty. Some observers believe that this 
happens more frequently in the case of girls; some bright girl 
will show temporarily a strange and annoying denseness and 
stolidity. This period of unresponsiveness is likely to come 
between twelve and fifteen. The unquestioning responsive- 
ness and frankness of childhood and the simple and efficiently 
organized mental life of preadolescence have passed, and the 
stimulating and sustaining forces of youth have not become 
effective. Bourne speaks of this time as "a trying period when 
the child has become well cognizant of the practical world, 
but has yet no hint of the gorgeous colors of youth. At thir- 
teen, for instance, one has the world pretty well charted, but 
not yet has the slow chemistry of time transmuted this experi- 
ence into meanings and values. . . At no time in life is one 
so unspiritual, so mere animal, so much of the earth earthy. 
How different is it to be a few years later! " As another writer 
has expressed it, *'they lack the docility of childhood and the 
fine idealism that comes to most young people soon after pu- 
berty." There seems to be no period in the whole mental life 
of the individual less understood, and there is certainly no per- 
iod more in need of sympathetic interpretation and treatment. 
It is a phase of adolescent development difficult to understand, 
because it is a time more than any other when the youth in- 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 8l 

stinctively withdraws into himself, and often masks behind an 
air of indifference. Because he has not found his mental bear- 
ings, he feels that he is likely to do or say the wrong thing; 
so he does or says nothing, or, what is more disconcerting and 
irritating, he says or does some inane thing that makes him 
appear foolish or obdurate. These are the years when pupils, 
especially boys, are in danger of dropping out of school; or, 
if they remain in, they may lose a grade. It is a time for pa- 
tience, firmness, and sympathy on the part of parents and 
teachers. Fortunately many adolescents seem somehow to 
escape this period when physiological maturing appears to 
side-track for a time the expected mental development; and 
these fortunate ones enter more immediately into that wonder- 
ful intellectual and social awakening, when the mental vigor, 
glow, and enthusiasm of life seem ready and able to sweep all 
before them. 

It is this marvelous intellectual awakening and reconstruc-, 
tion that we are next to consider. Lowell had in mind this^ 
inspiring phase of unfolding adolescence when he wrote: 

"And every hour new signs of promise tell 

That the great soul shall once again be free, 
For high and yet more high the murmurings swell 
Of inward strife for truth and liberty." 

The signs of awakening and maturing mental life are numerous. 
New fields of thought are opening, and whole realms that 
before had no interest are becoming for the developing youth 
veritable fairylands into which he enters with wonder and en- 
thusiasm. The maximum memory span is reached at sixteen 
or seventeen. Perhaps most characteristic of the mental life 
of the period is the rapid growth of the power to reason, so 
noticeable is this growth that reason is often thought of as an ado- 
lescent faculty. As Dewey has pointed out, thinking becomes of 
"a more comprehensive and abstract type than has previously 
obtained:/' and the cruder logical processes begin to attract 



82 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

and give satisfaction. This is the time when youth first thinks 
what seem to him "great thoughts; " and it is perfectly natural 
that he should think them to be great thoughts; for they are 
so new, so strange, and so significant as compared with any 
previous thought experiences, and the enthusiastic young phil- 
osopher has no way of knowing that his thoughts are old, per- 
haps, as human reason. Then, too, his power of thought as 
a rule greatly outruns his powers of expression, and he often 
longs ardently to express himself; this very disparity of powers, 
which is itself a temporary shortcoming, increases the im- 
pression that his must be great thoughts; he might fittingly 
adopt the words of Tennyson, — 

"I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me." 

He has come to love intense states of mind. It is the "spirit- 
ual drunkenness" of which Plato tells us. 

This widening of the range and increase in the complexity 
of the thought processes doubtless have as their physical basis 
the extending of many neurons into the new area of the cen- 
tral nervous system. This development of new or latent brain 
cells with their attached fibers so closely parallels the increase 
of ability to deal with more elaborate and difficult concepts that 
there can be little doubt of the causal relation. 

This rapid growth in the power to think and the consciousness 
of it naturally lead to much youthful confidence relative to 
the conclusions reached, hence the characteristic tendency 
toward intellectual independence, a tendency which often proves 
somewhat irritating and troublesome to deal with on a practi- 
cal basis. It is the time when youth wills to do his own think- 
ing, and the one who tries to do it for him makes a pedagogical 
blunder; the only psychological method of procedure is to 
try to guide his thinking. The safe motto is, "Come, let us 
reason together." 

Because of this new instrument of thought and the satis- 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 83 

faction he finds in its use, the adolescent, more particularly 
the boy, assumes a questioning and doubting attitude toward 
nearly all things. This critical tendency is so marked that 
this is often spoken of as a skeptical period; and it is quite 
certain that nearly all of the world's greatest minds have been 
obliged to pass through this doubting and questioning experi- 
ence when they first faced the problems relative to the inner 
meanings of things. And why should it not be so? The child 
is naturally imaginative and credulous and ready to act on 
suggestion; the preadolescent is usually satisfied if his ideas 
and methods fulfil the pragmatic test of working successfully; 
so it is left to the adolescent with his new-found powers to dis- 
cover the ultimate truth and the reasons for all things. The 
exercise of the higher mental processes, which have now come 
to be so interesting and the results of which seem so vital to 
youth, is the natural and only means of mental growth; hence 
this tendency and these powers must be given scope and an 
abundance of worthy material on which the unfolding powers 
may be exercised. 

Another characteristic of adolescence is that it is a time of 
dreams and reveries; it sometimes happens that, notwithstand- 
ing the strong social proclivities natural to the period, youth 
seeks solitude, where he may indulge in his vague graspings 
for new and great ideas. Things come to have for him a sense 
of mystery. Sometimes he seems to exhibit the traits of the 
poet, sometimes those of the genius. Longfellow, recalling 
his adolescent years spent in "the city by the sea," gives us a 
simple statement concerning his youthful moods and aspira- 
tions. 

"I remember the gleams and the glooms that dart 

Across the school-boy's brain; 
The songs and silence in the heart, 
That in part are prophecies, and in part 

Are longings wild and vain.'\ 



84 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

While the poet was living through these experiences of "the 
heart," they seemed prophecies, later only vain longings. 
Youth, as he suggests, has its moods of elation and depression 
(due often to physiological causes)," the gleams and the glooms." 
Adolescence is the time when the individual first begins to pro- 
ject these temporary moods and feelings upon nature, assum- 
ing toward it for the first time an emotional attitude; hence 
nature makes a new and strong appeal. Perhaps, of all the 
phases of adolescence, this is the most marvelous and unique. 
The sensations and sentiments which sometimes flood the stream 
of life are so indistinct and ill-defined that they are little more 
than vague and inexpressible yearnings, mysterious troubling 
of the waters, diffused raptures and seasons of nameless joy, 
alternating with depressing periods of misgivings and unrest.' 
These vague, evanescent, mysterious moods and promptings, 
which seem to place the individual in a class with poets and 
geniuses, are explainable, like the other mental traits of the 
period, by physiological causes; it is thought that they are 
but the irradiations of the rapidly developing sex life, second- 
ary sex characteristics, which disappear when certain physiolog- 
ical processes cease. They are believed to be the result of the 
inward traffic along the sensory tract toward the sensory parts 
of the brain of confused masses of sensations and impressions, 
having their origin in the maturing sex organs and functions. 
Thus, in a certain sense, poetry, art, romance, and even re- 
ligion, all that is highest and most characteristically human, 
proceed from a physical basis. The implications at this point 
are clear; from this physical maturing all greatness takes 
its rise, and the most must be made of it. 

It follows from the above that emotion and enthusiasm of- 
ten make up the major part of the mental life of the adolescent; 
deep, passionate interest in all things that touch the individ- 
ual is now natural and an encouraging sign, as belonging to a 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 8$ 

deep and rich nature; the chronically flippant and blase atti- 
tude toward life, which frequently appears, argues a shallow 
and empty character in every way disappointing and discour- 
aging. The proverbial enthusiasm and optimism of youth are 
both causal and consequential, and fortunate are the adults 
that can live in sympathetic accord with so much that is vital 
and inspiring; Socrates, the most human of the old philoso- 
phers, always sought out the companionship of the Athenian 
youth. 

It is easily understood that, with all this rapid and irregular 
increase of the mental powers and the blending of the changing 
mental states with the new emotional elements, there must 
naturally be considerable lack of intellectual perspective; the 
adolescent must not be expected to see everything in its due 
proportion or to evaluate facts and experiences according to 
adult standards. His idealism is frequently crude and vague, 
and his unwonted vigor will many times carry him beyond 
conventional bounds; but these are not symptoms that should 
disturb us. This emotional idealism and this enthusiasm are 
not to be killed in the bud or in any way allowed to miscarry, 
for they are the imfoldings of a larger life. 

This concludes our account of the mental growth and recon- 
struction due at this time. It remains to draw a few practical 
conclusions. 

Because youth feels so keenly the force of the on-rushing 
vital currents of his new life, he is liable to be oblivious of the 
limits and checks which nature and experience provide, hence 
his tendency to overdo in many directions. This adds to the 
nervous strain incident to the period, thus endangering health 
and possibly resulting in a stunting mental precocity. What 
can be done? This is the time when all the powers must have 
scope. Health and safety both call for guiding and suggestive, 
rather than imperative, methods of procedure; and the mental 



86 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

regimen must be carefully planned to meet adolescent needs 
and interests if there is to be assimilation and the consequent 
growth and development. So far in our account, growth of 
mind has been described largely in terms of itself; but there is 
also growth in terms of the educational materials that are at 
hand. The developing physical and mental powers both point 
to this as the period for acquiring both mechanical and artistic 
skill; but over-precision and great stringency must be guarded 
against. The adolescent naturally focuses on matter rather 
than form; and his sensibility is easily dulled and his enthusi- 
asm dampened by hypercritical handling. Anything that 
savors of dullness or lack of life is unpardonable in those who 
are directing the interests and efforts of youth; boredom at 
this time gives rise to all sorts of troubles, taking the form of 
lack of interest or rebellion. As has already been shown, 
interest in all phases of art is naturally augmented, and for 
those with real gifts in this direction remarkable growth both 
in appreciation and execution is possible. The power to ap- 
preciate and to emotionalize is far ahead of the ability to give 
expression, yet the adolescent is strongly urged to self-expres- 
sion; the result is that the rapidly rising tide of ideas which 
are carried forward on a flood of emotions fairly swamps him, 
the inner commotion and turmoil obstructing the outward 
flow; hence he must be protected against overstimulation. 
To be more specific, although he has so much more to express, 
the adolescent's growth of vocabulary and his precision in artic- 
ulation, particularly at the beginning of the period, seem to be 
halted, hence he vents the intensity of his feeling with a few 
ready phrases and some vigorous slang, which seem well suited 
to his needs; "verbalization, like appetites, is now prone to rut- 
tiness." It is during adolescence, too, that there is a tendency 
toward superlatives; and admiration for flowery and declam- 
atory prose styles makes its appearance, the liking for rhyme 
and rhythm coming earlier. All these interests and promp- 



MENTAL GROWTH AND RECONSTRUCTION 87 

tings are, in the last analysis, distinctly human, and care should 
be taken that they are not dehumanized by spiritual indiffer- 
ence or by removing things and ideas from their social setting. 
Education for the adolescent must be of the heart as well as 
of the intellect. 



CHAPTER VI 
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the most important 
aspect of adolescence; the changes in the social attitudes and 
proclivities which occur at this period are the most interest- 
ing of all the adolescent characteristics, because they are so 
human; and they are fraught with the greatest possibilities 
for individual growth and character formation. As we have 
seen, the adolescent suddenly becomes sensitive to the aspects 
of nature, but he is much more sensitive to the influences of 
his social environment. He is pretty sure to begin by imitat- 
ing the social order in which he finds himself; he seems even 
to imitate the social will of his group. For a time he is pulled 
and pushed by the social standards, customs, and ideals of 
those of his age with whom he happens to be placed. Why 
should it be otherwise? As we shall see later, his love of appro- 
bation is coming to be one of his controlling instincts; moraUty 
naturally comes to be identified with that conduct which se- 
cures social approval; conduct at this time cannot embody 
the results of a broad survey of or conformity to a consci- 
entiously thought out system of morals, much as the adolescent 
is interested in moral issues and theories. His moraUty in 
its simplest and purest form accepts the laws which obtain 
in. his group; this establishes for him social harmony, which 
is just now so necessary to his happiness; and thus it comes 
to pass that the acts and modes of conduct which reign in his 
social environment are easily thought of as good and they read- 
ily assume the validity of moral laws which must be obeyed 
if he hopes to be socially secure. Hence this pressure of so- 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 89 

cial circumstances strongly tends to build up and organize an 
inner world that will harmonize with the outer world, which 
is now pressing upon him in so many concrete forms; and thus 
the elements of character are being compounded. This is 
why the social life of the adolescent is so important. 

In our study of preadolescence we found that the individual 
appears to be living through a period that rather closely re- 
peats a relatively ancient stage in racial development, think- 
ing most of self and of everything and everybody as effecting 
self. The preadolescent values these for their immediate use 
to him; he is ego-centric. Moreover, he is well organized and 
extremely efficient in all that makes for self-preservation. In 
the succeeding stage of development the viewpoint and the 
conduct of the individual seem to parallel a much later and 
more advanced period in racial development; the higher racial 
traits tend to become dominant, and "the flood gates of he- 
redity" are now open wide. The youth is still thinking of self, 
for self-feeling has greatly increased, but he is thinking of self 
as related to others; things and people come to have a value 
for their own sake; he is hetero-centric. Although he may be 
unconscious of it, his mode of thinking and much that he does, 
as well as his physiological development, are looking toward 
race preservation. The adolescent's social nature and behav- 
ior, as well as his mental and physical natures, are greatly broad- 
ened and intensified. Heretofore he was interested in his 
immediate surroundings, now he would know what is beyond; 
a strange and veritable wanderlust often takes possession of 
him. Everything about him suggests an expanding person- 
ality, which is trying to realize itself in a new and enlarged en- 
vironment with which he would be in more vital accord. 

The social tendencies and characteristics which appear at 
this time are so vigorous and so well defined after they get under 
way, and their nature seems to be so deep-seated and funda- 
mental and at the same time universal, that they have been 



go PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

classified as social instincts. All who have observed these 
phases of adolescent development are aware that these instincts 
do not suddenly take control of the individual; there is often 
a vacillation between the traits and attitudes of the child and 
the nascent tendencies of youth. Frequently the conflict seems 
like a struggle between the individual and himself, appearing 
sometimes as the obstructed-will t)^e and sometimes as the 
precipitate and over-impulsive type. In any case it may give 
rise to considerable contradictory and inconsistent behavior. 
But, when these social instincts do assert themselves, there 
can be no doubt about their significance and their effectiveness. 
The first to appear and the one which shows stronger in man 
than in any other animal is gregariousness ; it is that urgent 
prompting which makes it imperative that people of this age get 
together. Up to this time they have found much that interested 
them in their home and the activities that center there; and 
their parents have been delighted to think of them as home 
bodies. This tendency to be satisfied with a relatively small 
social horizon is sometimes augmented during the opening 
years of adolescence, especially in the case of boys, by that 
feeling of extreme self-consciousness, already referred to, which 
appears at puberty, due, as we have seen, to the rapid physical 
and mental changes with their attendant clumsiness and em- 
barrassments; that is, the full maturing of the instinct of gre- 
gariousness may be preceded by a brief antisocial period, in 
which boys seem almost to dislike society, particularly that of 
girls, fearing they may blunder or in some way act foolish. 
But very soon the social atmosphere clears; the adolescent 
seeks society, especially of his own age; and there is shown 
much interest of a new kind in the opposite sex. All sorts of 
schemes, such as parties, picnics, and social organizations, 
are devised to make opportunities for coming together. When 
not in each other's company, the youthful mind is much occu- 
pied with thoughts that pertain to friends and to social ^experi- 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 91 

ences, either past or future, real or imaginary. Nearly every- 
thing is given a social setting. This craving for the company 
of others outside of the family and the persistent way in which 
the adolescent will satisfy it is often extremely disturbing to 
parents, and it is sometimes unjustly attributed to lack of affec- 
tion or gratitude. On the contrary, it ought to be interpreted 
as a sign of a natural and vigorous social development, a yearn- 
ing which must be met by the proper social response if its great 
educational possibilities are realized. The influences which 
come to the individual through these social channels at this 
time are the most subtile, as well as the most potent, of all 
life's experiences; for a time they are more powerful for good 
or for evil than the influences of parents, teachers, and books 
combined. It is a time when the adolescent feels that he and 
his group understand more fully and know better all that 
is essential to life and conduct than older people, who, as it 
seems to him, have lost step with the times; hence, there is a 
tendency for a time to be fundamentally impervious to adult 
influences. Fortunate is the adolescent who is surrounded by 
boys and girls of his age that are wholesome, enthusiastic, and 
right-minded; when this is the case, he is quite safe, and his 
environment is his salvation. 

Another and an encouraging social trait which usually be- 
comes well marked at this time is sympathy or fellow-feeling, 
shown by the disposition and the ability to enter appreciatively 
into the lives of others. As William James has pointed out, 
this does not follow from mere gregariousness. Sympathy has 
often been classed by the writers on ethics as an emotion, but 
there can be little doubt that much sjnnpathy is instinctive and 
a primitive endowment; it gives rise to feelings and emotions 
corresponding in kind, if not in degree, to those experienced 
by the one for whom sympathy is felt; but it does not neces- 
sarily include intellectual approbation. Adolescent S3anpathy 
is easily discovered among high-school pupils, especially when 



92 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

one of their number is in trouble of any kind; whatever the 
trouble, or whoever the pupil may be, there will be a sympath- 
etic response; flowers will be sent or some way found to give 
expression to their spontaneous feelings. This is very different 
from a kind of imitative, momentary sympathy sometimes 
shown by younger children. The appearance of this charac- 
teristic furnishes an instinctive basis on which to build much 
moral training; without it there could be no real benevolence 
or real charity: all true philanthropy, which is a relatively 
modern form of expression, takes its rise from this instinct; 
in fact, the commonplace virtue of kindness is prompted by 
it. In general it is found that the most highly developed in- 
dividuals have shown the strongest adolescent sympathy; in 
other words, they are the farthest removed from physical and 
brute nature. Without this distinctively human trait there 
would be no place for ethics either in theory or in practice; 
it is necessary as a basis for the best service to one's fellow 
beings; and it brings a kind of solace which nothing else can 
give. But this instinct needs guidance during its efflorescent 
stage; for it may die for lack of exercise, or it may degenerate 
into sentimentalism, or it may be narrowed into fetishistic 
forms. To deal properly with this instinct is one of the prob- 
lems of moral education. There is involved a nice distinction 
and adjustment in finding the true balance between adaptation 
to the tastes of others and a sincere and worthy self-expression, 
between self-abnegation and chronic opposition to others. 
The deep and fundamental virtue of truthfulness is involved. 
Like the other instincts, sympathy is not always a safe and ade- 
quate guide for action; like love and anger, it is sometimes 
blind and must be educated and regulated by reason; when 
properly disciplined and controlled it supplies a natural basis 
for many of the social and moral virtues. 

Perhaps the most characteristic of all the social instincts is 
the love of approbation, which becomes so conspicuous during 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 93 

adolescence. As we have seen, there is often a short period 
in the early teens when the boy or girl appears calloused and 
indifferent to the opinions of others; but, as already intimated, 
this is largely protective conduct (possibly instinctive) due to 
a desire to conceal the real state of mind, and not to be inter- 
preted as in any way indicating disregard for what others think; 
it is because the youth is concerned about the opinion of others 
that this attitude of apparent indifference is assumed. How- 
ever, this period soon passes and is replaced by a strong and 
evident desire to please others, particularly the opposite sex. 
As Hall expresses it, "there is a new sense of passing some kind 
of unwritten examination in the world's school and a new ri- 
valry to stand high and not low upon the multiplying and length- 
ening scales." To win good- will becomes with a majority of 
adolescents the most powerful motive, sometimes a sort of 
''ruling passion." We see it in its most emphatic and instinc- 
tive form in courtship. Another all-compelling form of the 
same instinct is the desire for renown, fame, glory. It is a 
truism to say that these are incentives which stimulate human 
beings to the greatest efforts of mind and body of which they 
are capable, although " the paths of glory lead but to the grave.'' 
It is because of the universal nature of this instinct that public 
sentiment or the will of the people, when it finds adequate 
means of expression, has such telling influence. The ado- 
lescent's strong desire to please is manifested in more ways than 
any study has yet been able to enumerate: the attention given 
to the smallest details that affect personal appearance, includ- 
ing the toilet, ribbons, rings, pins, perfumes, flowers, new colors, 
latest fads and fashions; the much thought given to manners, 
such as assumed vivacity, tricks of speech, pronunciation, 
diction, penmanship, affected ease in bearing, overprecision, 
poses of all kinds such as appear in the fashion books, affected 
smiles, imperturbability, abandon,— ringing the changes on 
these and many other ways of trying to attract attention and 



94 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

to please. All who deal with high-school pupils know how 
quickly any bit of slang, catchy manner, or peculiar style of 
dressing permeates the student body. Boys hope to win appro- 
bation by some sort of feat or stunt which displays skill, strength, 
fleetness, and especially courage; the presence of the girls stim- 
ulates and refines. The supreme effort that is often made at 
this time to control a troublesome temper is an interesting ex- 
ample of how one instinct may inhibit and supersede another 
and indicates the power of the instinctive tendency under con- 
sideration. The state of mind which takes its rise at ado- 
lescence often becomes fixed and carries over into the years of 
maturity. There are many men and women who seem to re- 
tain their instinctive adolescent fervor when in the company of 
the opposite sex; their whole manner is suddenly transformed. 
The poet Burns is a classical example of this sensitiveness and 
quick response to the influence of sex. There is no doubt but 
that the strong desire for approbation natural at this time can 
be made a most powerful lever in the hands of an adult whose 
function it is to deal with adolescent boys and girls; they tend 
to become what those whom they respect think they are. This 
principle fiinds many illustrations in the reminiscences of high- 
school life collected by Irving King and published in his book 
on "The High-School Age." All successful workers with ado- 
lescents in any capacity are constantly proving its efficiency 
as a natural and wholesome stimulant to better effort and con- 
duct. This instinct can be made to bloom naturally into cour- 
tesy and affability, and these, when they become habitual, 
tend to react on the deeper nature of the individual and make 
him what he seems. 

We found the preadolescent delightfully and effectively sel- 
fish; he is our true barbarian. He is clothed, fed, sheltered, 
taught, and he takes "no thought of the morrow;" all currents 
set his way. His parents live for him, and he expects it with- 
out giving the matter a moment's thought; in fact he expects 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 95 

even his whims to be heeded. But with the advent of puberty, 
or soon after, the currents should set the other way. Now is 
born in the soul, if ever, that highest of all the instinctive and 
social virtues; life must now become altro-centric if the highest 
stage in the process of socialization of the individual is to be 
reached. The spirit of altruism is an infallible index to the 
progress of either the individual or the race; it is the central 
virtue of Christianity, embodied in the golden rule, difficult 
to attain in its perfection, perhaps reached only once, but worthy 
of all effort, and due for cultivation during all the years of ado- 
lescence. The advent and manner of growth of this instinct 
and its corresponding emotions are perplexing and often dis- 
couraging; it may be said to come in streaks, and it often alter- 
nates with the grossest forms of selfishness; the old and the new 
laws of being seem to struggle for the mastery, and we must 
not expect the adolescent to do things by halves. The billowy 
currents of his on-rushing nature throw him sometimes back- 
ward on the archaic rocks of selfishness and sometimes on the 
banks where bloom the flowers of chivalry; self-subordination 
and much thought for the welfare of others alternate with out- 
croppings of greed and pure selfishness. Altruism is a plant of 
slow and uncertain growth and almost never completely matures; 
as Hall says, *'we see in adults noble lives and acts veined 
with petty meannesses, which are the residual and unreduced 
organs of childhood." Because of the appearance during ado- 
lescence of this instinct, it is an age of unselfish vows and 
pledges of devotion to causes calHng for much self-sacrifice and 
painful servitude; it is an age of reforms (all have at times 
been reformers) and an age when social service is included in 
one's life-plans; noble visions and deep sympathies are in the 
ascendant. Because of the strong impulses which are now 
surging, because of the lack of intellectual perspective, and 
because of the glorious optimism of youth, we must expect con- 
siderable ill-directed enthusiasm; and far be it from any adult, 



g6 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

acting in the light of his wider experience, to daunt this enthusi- 
asm, for it is the best contribution which youth makes to a 
world grown stale with experience. 

It is by reason of these maturing social instincts, with their 
resultant emotions, that the deeper and more subtile elements 
of personality are coming into existence and being blended, 
and a rich and well-rounded life is being shaped; character at 
this time, if ever, takes on beauty and solidity; and the whole 
strange alchemy which results in real manhood and real woman- 
hood is working too rapidly and too subtilely to be understood. 

If the foregoing account of the social instincts is correct, 
it follows that adolescence is the time when the individual 
should take possession of his social heritage, "when," as Slaugh- 
ter suggests, "adaptation is made to the whole group of non- 
material resources of the race, intellectual, moral, artistic, and 
religious." Failure to accept this social inheritance and con- 
sequently to make the proper adjustment to one's surround- 
ings means social inefficiency, which is the cause of untold fail- 
ure, misery, and despair. There is nothing more pathetic 
in all human experience than the state of mind that results from 
repeated failure due to lack of social efficiency. The one thus 
failing has the best of intentions and puts forth his utmost effort, 
yet is fated, as it seems to him, to dismal failure; and he never 
suspects the cause, for the cause is negative and lies in a for- 
gotten part of his life's history; he is enacting a continuous 
tragedy, for his aspirations cannot carry him over his inexor- 
able social limitations. 

Hence, the cardinal problem of adolescence is how best to 
foster and direct the many social instincts and impulses; in 
other words, how to make the strongest social appeal in the 
interest of strong character and right living. All efforts^ to 
help — physically, mentally, and morally — must be given a 
social setting. At this age the individual is sustained and nour-. 
ished by the social medium in which he is placed; and, because 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR IMPORT 97 

of the vital unity of human nature, if this medium is rich and 
wholesome, all will go well. This means that the much- to-be- 
desired social training, which in the last analysis includes moral 
training, can only be given by means of concrete situations, 
and these are sure to arise. As has been shown, the adolescent 
will plan many ways to bring them about; and it is the work of 
adults to see that youth is surrounded by adequate protection 
from the natural dangers and that the wayfarer has proper 
guidance. It is only by contact with concrete social situations 
that the adolescent can learn to evaluate the various elements 
which make up any situation. It often resolves itself into a 
matter of social conformity. Dr. Royce assures us that, "So- 
cial conformity gives us social power. Such power brings to us 
a consciousness of who and what we are. Now, for the first 
time, we begin to have a will of our ovm. And hereupon we 
may discover this will to be in sharp conflict with the will of 
society. This is what normally happens to most of us, for a 
time at least, in youth." This conformity to the social will is 
about the only morality that many people ever know; and, 
if it is not allowed to become self-effacing in its effects, it makes 
for social efficiency, and social efficiency is synonymous with 
success. 

The discussion of this important subject will be continued in 
a more concrete form in Chapter XI, which deals with the high- 
school problem of " Social Activities." 



CHAPTER VII 
MORAL ASPECTS 

In a previous chapter it was stated that, during the unique 
period of preadolescence, the child, in the deepest sense of the 
terms, is neither moral nor immoral, that he is rather unmoral. 
His conduct may be very satisfactory and pleasing, or it may 
be very annoying and often is so to those who are not interested 
in him. Whatever he is, it is largely the result of imitation or 
of what has been imposed upon him by adults. He gives little 
thought to his conduct as such. But not so with the ado- 
lescent; the period of habitual morality has closed; whatever 
his actions may be, we can be certain that the adolescent is 
thinking about conduct; he is becoming a moral being, as the 
old theology expresses it, a free moral agent. Is it strange that 
he turns part of his newly acquired ability for independent 
thinking toward moral and later toward ethical problems? 
These matters of conduct, like the rest of his problems, he must 
settle for himself. Then, too, the unwonted violence of life's 
stream is driving him toward and into courses of conduct that 
are as marvelous and puzzling to him as are the physiological 
manifestations from which the moral awakening takes its rise. 
Thus adolescence, when viewed in its moral aspects, presents 
innumerable and vital problems. The problems are vital be- ' 
cause the final test of human endeavor is conduct, the deter- 
minant of the status of both the individual and the race. Again 
we find adolescence a critical period. 

We have already found that there is a time following closely 
the on-coming of puberty when the center of personality is 
physical rather than mental, when the individual often seems 

98 



MORAL ASPECTS 99 

swamped by the unfamiliar, on-rushing flood of physical im- 
pulses that are beating down all the old landmarks, and as yet 
nothing has come to take their place. It is a time when, as 
we have seen, the hereditary forces are asserting themselves; 
they are strong, and they are so new and strange to the individ- 
ual that they are not easily governed. During these years the 
adolescent, at any rate the boy, takes delight in brushing aside 
many of the old restrictions and breaking away from the line 
of conduct which he has followed so long that it has become 
habitual. As he often thinks seriously about himself and his 
conduct, he wonders about this new wildness and he finds it just 
as puzzling as do his parents and teachers; and he may specu- 
late as to how it will all end. Some time during this trying 
period the boy or girl is likely to assume an attitude of cock- 
sureness toward things in general; there is a noticeable lack of 
docility, which brings its train of difficulties; the myth that 
elders are to be trusted as guides and advisers because of their 
wisdom born of experience is exploded ; and the adolescent pre- 
fers to work out his own philosophy of life. 

The difficulties for those who are responsible for youth at 
this disturbing time are greatly increased by reason of the wide 
range of individual differences manifested in moral develop- 
ment; each case is likely to be somewhat unique, at least it 
so appears to the adolescent himself; and, if he thinks that 
his interests and aims are not understood and appreciated, 
which often happens, he may become for a time morose and 
retire within himself, being possessed of a kind of self-pity. 
The difficulty is perhaps more likely to take this form with 
girls than with boys. Occasionally the process of getting out of 
this antisocial mood, when the promptings to break away from 
the established order of things are strong, is a long and painful 
one; for the emotions are surging so violently that any attempt 
toward a re-formation of character and conduct along the lines 
suggested by the new thought processes may be thwarted. 



lOO PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

It is a peculiar psychological condition due to physiological 
causes, a case where the chief physician in working a real cure 
is the adolescent himself, who is temporarily disordered and 
sees "as through a glass darkly." 

As might be expected, it is during this yeasty stage of devel- 
opment that pupils from choice leave school in the largest mmi- 
bers. As matters are now generally arranged, there is a break 
in the educational ladder, which most unfortunately coincides 
with the period of greatest unrest. The ordinary restraints 
of the classroom and authority constantly imposed from with- 
out become irksome past endurance; and at the same time the 
larger freedom and greater activity of the world outside of 
the school are calling to him and promising more scope for the 
new forces that are welling up within. This is the time of 
truancy and running away and all the other troubles that a 
restless, unformed, and undisciplined nature naturally gives 
rise to. The boy in school at this time often feels like some 
wild animal in a cage and his chafing is like in kind; the blood 
of his feudal ancestors is surging in his veins, and he may yield 
to a yearning to be up and away, leaving the stupid routine 
of the schoolroom behind him. 

"A boy's will is the wind's wiU, 
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." 

All who have passed through a vigorous, typical adolescence 
under the conditions of modern civilization have at times ex- 
perienced this vague, impulsive longing to break away from all 
outward restraint and once for all assert self to the limit; and 
all such should be able to enter sympathetically into the feel- 
ings of the restless creature now held in captivity. 

This condition growing out of a restless surplus of energy 
and an unstable mental equilibrium is not so far removed from 
the time when the first criminal out-croppings appear as it 
might seem at first thought. The new emotions and impulses 
have a driving force that cannot always be withstood; and, 



MORAL ASPECTS lOl 

if the environment is antisocial (for instance a hooligan gang), 
the youthful wayfarer is likely to be either driven or pulled 
into many a devious path. It is not strange, however dis- 
concerting it may be, that the criminal ranks are largely re- 
cruited from early and middle adolescence. The most alarm- 
ing consideration is that statistics show that the proportion 
of youthful offenders to the entire population is rapidly increas- 
ing, and this notwithstanding the great faith of the last genera- 
tion in the uplifting and civilizing influence of the new educa- 
tion provided for all the children of all the people. This de- 
pressing fact is not made less depressing when the best students 
of modern eugenics assure us that the explanation is simply 
that the birthrate among the morally unfit is much greater 
than among the morally sound, and that delinquents of nearly 
all kinds, including the feeble-minded, the high-grade morons, 
the degenerates, the epileptics, and the vicious, breed true and 
follow the Mendelian law. However, for the purpose of this 
study we reject the born criminals, who are defined by Dr. 
D. M. Guyer as "those offenders who are congeni tally unable 
to distinguish between what is generally accepted as right and 
wrong, or who if recognizing this are nevertheless uncontrollably 
impelled toward or unable to refrain from antisocial acts be- 
cause of some inherent condition of intellectual or volitional 
make-up." Care must be exercised, however, in both our 
thinking and our practice, not to classify as born criminals 
those offenders whose troublesome outbreaks are merely rever- 
berations of the savage life of their distant progenitors; these 
ancestral tendencies and primitive impulses to a wildness and 
an almost resistless fury readily suggest criminal instincts, and, 
if the proper influences and control are lacking, youthful crimes 
and perhaps criminals will be the result. Nearly all vigorous, 
normal boys are liable at certain stages in their development 
to manifest some of these primitive traits. 
Anything approaching a complete study of the moral as- 



I02 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

pects of adolescence must include an account of the kinds of 
crime most common at this period, their causes, and the possible 
preventions and remedies. For our purpose, a criminal may 
be understood to be any person whose conduct is so antisocial 
as habitually to include acts that the community as a whole 
has decided by custom and usually by law not to tolerate from 
any of its members, conduct that, if persisted in by a large num- 
ber, would be fatal to the integrity of the community as making 
impossible any life or action in common; thus the line of de- 
marcation between conduct that is criminal and conduct that 
is judged non-criminal is largely fixed by convention and varies 
greatly according to time and place. 

It must be kept in mind that very seldom does any youth 
pass suddenly from the comparatively harmless pranks of child- 
hood to acts that his community classes as seriously criminal; 
the antisocial acts of adolescents usually form a closely graded 
series, which in the case of any individual tend toward being 
progressive; hence the classification of these adolescent offences 
and felonies cannot be anything like complete. In general it 
has been found that the maximal age for malicious mischief is 
fourteen, that crimes against property lead all other forms of 
crime (reaching a maximum at sixteen), the proportion accord- 
ing to Drahms being fifteen to one; while statistics show that 
crimes against persons reach a maximum between twenty and 
twenty-five. The worst time in the life of a youth is likely 
to be the year after leaving school, especially if he leaves early; 
this fact must have a significance demanding the most serious 
study. 

Perhaps the misdemeanors, least offensive because of their 
origin, and least dangerous to the individual when treated as 
their nature demands, are those that may be classed as larks 
and adventures. These usually originate with extremely ac- 
tive young people who have a great fund of initiative. These 
misdemeanors are generally the result of an intense desire for 



MORAL ASPECTS 103 

the excitement that they furnish and the scope they give for 
the dare-devil propensities so common in the most promising 
adolescents. Often the aim seems to be to get just beyond 
the law, there being a great attraction toward any conduct that 
breaks through the established order and much excitement in 
doing what is forbidden. Perhaps most frequently the satis- 
faction comes from anticipating how surprised, how shocked, 
or how angry some one will be. In dealing with this form of 
offense, for like other adolescent irregularities it must be checked, 
the adult must divest himself of all feeling of annoyance if 
he would see the situation in its true light and if he would re- 
tain the sympathy and confidence of exuberant youth; all 
successful dealing with people demands that they be treated 
as they really are. 

Truancy, which has already been referred to and explained, 
is not of necessity extremely harmful in itself; but it is likely 
to lead to very troublesome and dangerous complications, from 
the fact that the truant must find some sort of occupation and 
companions, and these will naturally not be of the best; it may, 
also, easily be the beginning of vagabondage and vagrancy. 
The studies by L. W. Kline and others indicate that this offense 
increases rapidly at and following puberty, the point in the 
life of the individual corresponding to the time when primitive 
people naturally become of age, whereas vagrancy reaches its 
maximum a little later. The causes appear to be very numer- 
ous: the migratory instincts and consequent habits of dis- 
tant and primitive ancestors are believed to figure as remote 
causes, truancy being a temporary reversion to their habitual 
mode of life; doubtless most of the inherent causes are the 
adolescent characteristics with which we are already familiar, 
such as, a new love of freedom and independence, reaction against 
authority of any kind, a new feeling for nature resulting in a 
strong desire to be out-of-doors, the strange attraction of lake 
and stream, a yearning for different surroundings resulting in 



I04 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

impatience with familiar things and habitual duties and the 
monotony of routine, a moody love of solitude, the vague 
charm of some-where-else, the calls of a developing motor- 
sense that make travel of any kind peculiarly seductive, and 
the mere spirit of adventure so common at this period; some- 
times the exciting cause seems to be a book of adventure oc- 
casionally found in possession of the runaway. Some combina- 
tion of these causes work in a mysterious and subtile way to 
tempt many adolescents from the narrow path of duty; and 
hundreds of testimonies prove that very many are tempted who 
do not yield. The causes do not appear to indicate that tru- 
ancy and running away are evidences of any natural depravity, 
but they seem rather to make it clear that these offenses should 
be anticipated and forestalled by removing some of the causes 
and by providing other ways for the migratory instincts to 
function. Nearly all writers place much of the blame for this 
form of delinquency upon the present educational system, which 
without doubt was devised primarily for the purpose of train- 
ing the intellect, little heed being given to the other elements 
of youthful natures. At any rate, the schools often manage 
thoroughly to bore instead of interest the adolescent when 
interest in general is at its highest. It would seem to be the 
problem of the teacher to fuse the necessary school activities 
with such traits and tendencies as boys and girls manifest when 
they give expression to their real nature; if this can be done, 
we have a natural and effective means of energizing the work. 
The trips on foot and by rail and automobile taken in connec- 
tion with courses in science and history are examples of how 
many schools in Europe, as well as several in this country, 
have made the natural inclinations of this period contribute 
to the purposes of the school. 

The studies of adolescent conduct show an exceedingly large 
amount of incorrigibility. Perhaps this might be expected, 
because there are physiological, psychological, and, according 



MORAL ASPECTS 



105 



to Hall, anthropological causes, with which we are already 
familiar, for this troublesome form of irregularity. Many of 
the causes are the same as for truancy. As we have seen, the 
rapid maturing of sex gives rise to much unrest and general 
physical disturbance; it is the time for the beginning of inde- 
pendent thinking, and there is normally much emotional tur- 
moil and many impulsive promptings, all tending somewhat 
to establish a recalcitrant attitude toward authority and res- 
traint; and perhaps the echoes of those times when far-removed 
adolescent ancestors broke away from parental control and set 
out for an independent existence are reverberating in the youth- 
ful incorrigibles. Incorrigibility reaches its maximum at the 
age of fourteen, and it is very prevalent from twelve to seven- 
teen inclusive. Whatever may be the explanation, the home 
must take a large share of blame for this dangerous form of 
youthful delinquency; incorrigibility nearly always begins in 
a lack of parental control and spreads to wider fields later. 
It would seem to be the natural duty of parents to understand 
adolescent nature as exhibited in their own children; but very 
often this is not the case, and there is a sad lack of attention 
to matters of control, growing out of a want of definiteness 
and firmness of purpose. Lack of sympathetic understanding 
results in unreasonable demands, which are always likely to 
be ignored, and lack of firmness and consistency invites dis- 
obedience. There is a much smaller percentage of disobedience 
in the schools than in the homes, notwithstanding the much 
greater numbers to be controlled and the higher standards of 
conduct and accomplishment that are maintained. This form 
of misdemeanor is alarming, because it leads the list of youth- 
ful offenses, being nearly double any of the others, and because 
it is likely to carry in its wake all the other misdemeanors and 
crimes of which adolescents are guilty. So far as the schools 
are concerned, there must be teachers who know adolescent 



Io6 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

nature, who are sympathetic, and who are definite, consistent, 
and firm in their requirements. 

Like nearly every other human trait, the power of anger is 
increased and much deepened at adolescence. Nearly all nor- 
mal boys develop an added propensity to fight at the beginning 
of the period, and many girls show more petulance and irritabil- 
ity at puberty. Although this tendency does not lead to so many 
offenses as many of the others, it is something that must be 
got under control; that is, the proper inhibitions must be set 
up: nearly all action prompted by rage is unreasonable, harm- 
ful, and sometimes dangerous. In general there appear to 
be two common types of anger: one which tends to explode 
and work itself out on somebody or something, and another 
which tends toward moroseness and sulking, the moody, un- 
forgiving kind. Either type will be made worse by humoring; 
both need drastic but careful treatment. The treatment natu- 
rally varies greatly, because the kinds of this disorder and the 
individuals vary greatly. The present writer has much S3an- 
pathy with the following view expressed by J. W. Slaughter: 
"As regards its treatment, it may be observed that nothing is 
more useful than the Arestotelian catharsis as found in the 
usual boy's fights. The modern world is perhaps somewhat 
over-civilized in its endeavor to prevent the healthy locking of 
horns of young males — the few bruises received are a small 
price to pay for the moral benefits involved — and the boys 
themselves nearly always ensure fairness and prevent resort 
to violent methods." Moreover, fighting among boys, which 
so horrifies a certain type of adult, can be shown to have other 
important psychical values: it tends to supply courage to the 
timid; it forces concentration and stimulates the most intense 
action; it calls for a long series of quick judgments; and it 
calls for a high degree of self-control under trying circum- 
stances. If these benefits really accrue from this strenuous 
form of youthful contest, there can be little doubt about 



MORAL ASPECTS 107 

the powers and values gained carrying over into the more tran- 
quil moods when the efforts are directed toward that which is 
immediately useful; it is a well-known biological law, that any 
tissue adapts itself to the tension to which it is put; the violent 
beating and twisting by the wind are needed to give the great- 
est strength of fiber to the unprotected oak. But fights are 
not always forthcoming, and no one would advocate their 
instigation; however, boxing and other forms of personal con- 
tact, when carefully managed, can be profitably used as a 
substitute. In our zeal to deal judiciously with adolescent 
anger, we must remember that complete control rather than 
eradication should be the end sought. Dr. Hall maintains 
that to be angry aright is a great part of a moral education. 
''Anger should be a great and diffused power in life, making 
it strenuous, giving zest and power to the struggle for survival 
and mounting to righteous indignation. Its culture requires 
proper selection of objects and great transformation, but never 
extermination. The healthy and complete male especially will 
never be an entirely peaceful creature, and cowardice and the 
loss of courage will always mean some degree of psychic emas- 
culation." In general it may be said that in dealing with the 
adolescent tendency to uncontrolled anger plain talk on the 
part of a responsible adult whose actions do not belie his words 
is always wholesome, except in a few types where ignoring is 
the best treatment; the tempestuous youth must be made to 
understand in the most emphatic way possible the unreason- 
ableness and the consequences of uncontrolled wrath. The 
one who would aid adolescents in securing control of temper 
has a powerful ally, if use is made of it, in the strong desire that 
arises at this time to secure and maintain a good social status; 
it is neither manly nor womanly to yield to uncontrolled anger, 
and this they must be made to see. 

Adolescent cruelty and all the tendencies that lie in this 
direction are difficult to explain either biologically or psycho- 



lo8 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

logically. There is a form of cruelty frequently manifested 
in childhood due perhaps to curiosity or to thoughtlessness, 
which should pass and usually does when adolescence comes. 
But the cruelty which continues into or begins during adoles- 
cence is a more serious matter and is in a sense unnatural. 
Nearly all cruel tendencies should disappear at this time, for, 
as has been shown, sympathy becomes instinctive and fre- 
quently very marked, especially for any living thing in trouble. 
Extreme cases of cruelty are probably due to hereditary de- 
fects of some kind and are not infrequently found in individ- 
uals that show some abnormal sexual tendencies; they seem not 
to be due to a mere lack of sympathy; and strange to say, a 
youthful torturer sometimes shows exquisite sensitiveness and 
tenderheartedness for something, perhaps his pet, seeming to 
indicate that he has ''specialized psychic zones." This im- 
timely adolescent barbarity may in some way have its origin in 
the ages when primitive man was at enmity with nearly all 
mankind; the kindly and fraternal sentiments have been of 
slow growth in the race. Whether the explanation is atavistic 
or something simpler yet to be discovered, this is a disappoint- 
ing and discouraging phase of human nature which crops out 
at this time, for no curative measures are known. When the 
normal instinct of human sympathy is wanting, there seems to 
be nothing upon which to build. The cruelly disposed must be 
restrained through fear of consequences. 

For some unknown reason a railway and things connected 
with it have a strange interest and fascination for boys, espec- 
ially those living in the country. To them the men who oper- 
ate the trains and care for the roadbed seem a little different 
from other people; they seem a little mysterious, a little to 
be feared, and withal they are people on whom the playing of 
tricks furnishes mild adventures. These pranks take the form 
of flagging the trains, greasing the rails, placing explosives or 
obstructions on the rails, throwing stones at the cars or through 



MORAL ASPECTS 



109 



the windows, stealing old metal, breaking the insolating glass 
on the telegraph poles, and any other form of annoyance that 
has in it the desired amount of risk. This peculiar kind of 
perversity commonly continues to the age of fifteen or sixteen, 
when it appears childish and foolish. The motive behind these 
apparently meaningless outrages is some form of excitement: 
the boys wish to see if they will be detected; they imagine the 
anger of some one when the trouble is discovered; or they find 
this a way of displaying a kind of courage to the members of 
their group, for these are seldom solitary misdemeanors. These 
depredations connected with railroads are rather difficult to 
deal with because the identity of the guilty ones is easily con- 
cealed; it is fortunate that they do not carry over into later life. 
Another form of offense of which nearly all real boys that 
have had the opportunity are guilty is that of robbing orchards, 
stealing melons, and the like; the motives are probably about 
the same as those for the misdemeanors just discussed. Of 
course the boys eat the things taken and enjoy them very much, 
because they are "stolen fruit;" but this is not the motive, 
for they often have all they want of the same thing at home. 
Again the prime motive is excitement; and sometimes their 
feeling toward the owner has its influence, as they will rob with 
greatest pleasure the one of whom they have an unfavorable 
opinion. Like many other troublesome adolescent tendencies, 
it is an expression of superabundant physical and mental energy 
and should not be classed with ordinary stealing; for many 
indulge in such pranks that could not be induced to take any- 
thing else; things to eat, according to adolescent standards, 
appear to be in a class by themselves. On the whole it would 
seem that this is a characteristic of the period not to be taken 
very seriously; in spite of anything that can be done or said, 
the young offenders persist in thinking of the matter lightly, 
and many adults with the best of reputations and holding high 
positions do not regret their part in such youthful escapades. 



no PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

Another form of stealing, which the studies thus far made 
report as rather common, is the practice on the part of the ado- 
lescent of taking money and other things from members of 
his own family; and it is found that this seldom leads to steal- 
ing from people outside the family, the idea being that the 
thing stolen in some sort of a way belongs to him or would be 
given to him if he were urgent enough in asking for it. At 
any rate, there is always in the mind of the offender some kind 
of a reason or excuse. To the writer it seems that in nearly 
all such cases there is something radically wrong with the family 
arrangements or with the relations of the members to each 
other, for this kind of misdemeanor does not appear to be ex- 
plainable by any of the common adolescent traits and tenden- 
cies. It is a serious form of combined selfishness and dishon- 
esty which usually need not be allowed to develop ; it may well 
be treated as a form of disloyalty to the family brought about 
by a lack of common family interest and real unity. 

Petty larceny as defined by law reaches its maximum at 
fifteen, although the cases are almost as numerous at fourteen 
and sixteen, these years including more cases than all the other 
years combined from seven to twenty-one; this is according 
to Hall's table based on the census of 1890. Boys lead girls in 
this form of crime about four to one. This kind of misdemeanor 
is often serious and one that should be attacked in every way 
that has been found effective. It may be thought of as an ex- 
treme form of selfishness at a supposedly unselfish age. The 
motives which prompt stealing are very numerous, differing 
largely with the nature of the young thief and his environment. 
It is generally found that those guilty of stealing, as in the case 
of family pilfering, have in mind some sort of an excuse or justi- 
fication, however ridiculous it may be. Hall thinks that there 
must be a deep-seated, vague instinct which gives rise to the 
feeling that things really belong to those that need them most 
or can best use them, for the finer conceptions of personal 



MORAL ASPECTS III 

property came very late in the development of civilization. 
Stealing during childhood is usually to satisfy immediate wants; 
among the things stolen, edibles or money to buy them, always 
lead. Thefts by fraud and stealth come later; and, as the 
age advances, the young offender develops larger plans to take 
the place of his disconnected thieveries. The literature on 
this subject is full of the accounts of predatory clubs and gangs; 
the most cowardly boy becomes bold when he "hunts with his 
pack." Perhaps the most readable description of these thiev- 
ing organizations and their manner of operating in a large city 
is found in Jacob Riis's ''How the Other Half Lives." Asso- 
ciated with this organized stealing are nearly all the offenses 
known to criminal law, sometimes including murder. It is 
not certain that the best way of dealing with this form of ado- 
lescent misdemeanor has yet been proposed. All the most 
careful studies seem to point to the futihty and ineffectiveness 
of extreme penalties, at least as applied to stealing when the 
spirit of the gang is behind it, for the one who is "pinched" 
and punished at once becomes a hero, and for an adolescent to 
be a hero is the strongest possible motive. The most effective 
way thus far found to deal with organized crimxe among boys 
is to turn the energies of the gang into some other form of ac- 
tivity; this is often easily done by those who understand boy 
nature, as witness the effective work with the boys of New 
York City by Arthur Woods when PoHce Commissioner. Com- 
missioner Woods, in pursuance of his work of prevention, sought 
to supply the boys with "enough recreation, instruction, and 
employment to occupy, if possible, all their spare time." And 
above all, according to the report given of his work by "The 
Outlook," he tried to develop in them a feeling of responsibility, 
and this he did by organizing the Junior Police; he found that 
the leader of the toughest gang was always the best "scout." 
In general athletics of a strenuous order appear to supply the 
surest remedy. As to individual thieving, each case is a sep- 



112 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

arate problem and the remedies are naturally as varied as the 
elements which are found combined in the problem, the first 
consideration being the real nature of the individual offender; 
then there are the social, economic, and educational influences 
that must be reckoned with. The one object in mind should 
be reform and prevention and never punishment, unless as a 
means. It is pretty certain that much adolescent crime is 
transient when the social and moral surroundings do not con- 
tribute to the evil tendencies of this age. The studies seem to 
show that about twenty-five per cent of people in the most 
respected vocations have some time during their lives been 
guilty of theft; this consideration ought surely to plead for a 
sympathetic treatment of the adolescent with criminal tenden- 
cies. 

Lying on the part of adolescents is extremely difficult to deal 
with. The difficulty seems to come from many causes, one of 
the chief being that it is not generally considered a serious off- 
ense; it is troublesome to treat any fault that is not held appro- 
brious by society. Then, too, the forms of deception are so 
many and so subtile: in small matters, which make up the most 
of life, false coloring easily slips in and distorts the picture; 
considerations of policy and prudence lead to concealments; 
falsehood in the guise of praise pleases; kindness and courtesy 
suggest many modifications; sometimes an untruth does not 
seem a lie when softly spoken; and an amiable lie does not 
often give serious offense. Thus the adolescent's instinctive 
desire to please naturally leads to insincere utterances; lying, 
as Ruskin affirms, soon becomes "less a matter of the will than 
of habit." 

The causes and motives are extremely varied, giving rise to 
many different kinds of lies. The first kind appears in early 
childhood, is common to nearly all intellectually lively 
children, and is due to a confusion of fancy with reality. This 
kind is not in the least dangerous; it is merely the sign of a 



MORAL ASPECTS 



113 



lively imagination, which the child sees fit to exercise along 
with his other budding faculties. Like the other faults and 
virtues of early childhood, it has no ethical basis, and there 
is no reason why it should carry over into the later periods of 
life. In early adolescence there frequently appears the boast- 
ing lie, the motive clearly being self -exaltation; and it belongs 
with the showing-off tendencies of the period already noted. 
In some cases it may be due, as has been suggested, to "a sting- 
ing sense of inferiority" that the youthful braggart hopes to 
cover up. This form of lying when persisted in is usually 
recognized on the part of the group by a well-chosen cognomen, 
which has for its function the puncturing of the self-inflation 
of the young aspirant for approval. It is a kind of lying which 
the group can manage better than any adult, for it often yields 
to ridicule. Closely akin to this but of a more general nature is 
the dramatic lie, which is likely to appear at about the same 
age. The motive here is to produce some kind of striking effect 
and draw more attention to the transgressor than would re- 
sult from plaui truth-speaking. Girls are generally supposed 
to be more inclined to this t3^e of falsehood than boys. There 
is usually no intention to deceive; thus, it is a bad social habit 
to be broken up rather than an indication of an unfavorable 
moral bias, and it usually passes with the passing of the ado- 
lescent desire for excitement and sensation. Another kind of 
lying, more difficult to deal with and natural under conditions 
often prevailing in childhood and youth, is that used to escape 
punishment. It is claimed by some writers that this t)rpe of 
lying also is void of any real moral qualities, that the conduct 
of children is naturally estabUshed on a practical basis, those 
lines of conduct being chosen which in their experience are 
found to lead to the desired result; hence, if young people lie 
to avoid punishment, it is not their fault, but it is merely evi- 
dence that matters have been so managed for them that they 
have learned that in the long run it pays to lie. If this view is 



114 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

correct, and there can be little doubt that such is frequently 
the case, the remedy is clear although perhaps not easy of 
apphcation: always manage in such a way as to put a bounty 
on truth-speaking and never the reverse. In practice this 
means that many faults must go unpunished and many retali- 
atory feelings of adults remain ungratified. When this type 
of lying persists in adolescence, and it is generally common, it 
can often be made to appear as a form of cowardice, which 
fundamentally it is, and few adolescents, especially boys, wish 
to be considered "yellow;" lying is not playing the game fair 
and is not good sportmanship. Unless the moral tone is very 
low, the boy or girl is always admired who tells the whole truth 
when the circumstances are such as to call for courage in so 
doing. If the custom of telling the truth about one's own con- 
duct can once be established, the individual offender will find 
it difficult to resist such a code of honor; public sentiment at 
this age is very powerful and social pressure is quickly felt. 
This t)^e of lying is more likely to exist where little persistent 
effort is made to get the truth, or where punishments are ex- 
tremely severe; it is not wholesome for the adolescent to get 
the notion that it is easy and safe to deceive; and, contrary 
to what one might expect, punishment for lying is not effective, 
as lying comes to be a matter of taking chances, a species of 
gambling. The last kind of l3dng to be mentioned here is that 
contemptible t5^e known as the hypocritical lie; this form is 
used as a cloak for all sorts of personal shortcomings, and fol- 
lows many unfortunate individuals through life. They are 
trying to measure up to the standards of various kinds which 
their community has set but are not quite succeeding, and 
they hope to maintain the good opinion of their friends and 
others by insidious misrepresentations. When hypocritical ly- 
ing has become habitual, it tends to render the liar immune to 
the judgments and influences of his community; for he con- 
tinually simulates by word and act a course of conduct which 



MORAL ASPECTS 1 15 

on the surface conforms to the moral standards around him, 
and he thus shuts himself off from the normal and ever-present 
molding influence of public opinion. The importance of root- 
ing out this kind of lying before the close of adolescence is evi- 
dent. The most natural remedy seems to be the persistent, 
relentless, and continuous exposure of the fabrications, so that 
the despicable and worthless nature of these efforts at deception 
are always forcibly impressed. This often implies much cour- 
age and skill on the part of those responsible, for the treatment 
demanded is heroic and the ramifications of the false fabric 
are frequently intricate and difficult to unravel. 

It is difficult to understand why lying is so generally looked 
upon as venial, since its whole logical consequence is the dis- 
ruption of society, and since it surpasses all other adolescent 
faults as a contributor to criminal tendencies. It requires but 
little imagination and thought to see what would happen to 
society if everybody lied all the time; and it does not require 
deep insight as to the workings of the human mind to under- 
stand how much the habitually successful deceiver is tempted to 
stray into all sorts of devious paths; the whole drift of his life 
is toward a cjniical disregard for social responsibility. On the 
other hand, the one who habitually and courageously speaks 
the truth is socially benevolent; he kindly serves his fellow- 
man with the truth, which in the long run is always helpful. 

It will be remembered that the discussion of the nature and 
treatment of all forms of degeneracy falls outside the scope of 
this book. The aim in the preceding account of discour- 
aging and troublesome adolescent faults and tendencies has 
been to acquaint the reader with their nature and especially 
to forestall any feeling of surprise or horror that might arise 
through a lack of sympathetic understanding. The adult 
must not lose faith in erring youth. Faith, calmness, and 
sympathy are the three elements much needed in the normal 
atmosphere that surrounds adolescence. When faith, calm- 



Il6 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

ness, and sympathy are exercised by a strong and pleasing per- 
sonality, the youth of normal t3^e is comparatively safe, at 
least so far as the final outcome is concerned. 

Sometimes it would seem that nature has made the moral 
path of the adolescent difficult; but that is not all, other in- 
fluences combine against him. The work of those who would 
generously aid adolescents in right living and in the building 
of fine and strong characters is greatly hindered, and the efforts 
of youth to follow the path of rectitude are continually thwarted 
by the many forms of modern commercialism which have 
been contrived to prey upon the sex susceptibility of youthful 
nature. Adolescent instincts and impxilses are exploited, not 
because of any sinister intention toward youth, but from purely 
commercial and selfish motives. Hundreds of traps are de- 
vised and baited with subtile forms of suggestion which appeal 
to the developing sex nature: the latest catchy songs and music 
are insinuatingly suggestive; some of the modern social dances 
are devised to promote other things than graceful movements; 
much of modern fiction goes as far as it dares in suggestiveness 
and the portrayal of questionable situations, this being the 
surest way to increase the sales; the flaming bill-boards used 
to advertize the theater, vaudeville, and moving-pictures are 
designed with an understanding of the psychology of adoles- 
cence; and every vaudeville bill, and many moving-pictures 
and plays have in them enough that appeals to the sex impulses 
to make sure of the adolescent portion of their patronage. The 
adolescent boy is very anxious to know all and do all befitting 
man's estate, hence he rushes into many dangerous experiences, 
and the one who provides the means profits by it. Because 
of ignorance of their own developing functions, thousands of 
youths go every year to quacks, who have managed through 
misleading advertisements to alarm them; this happens be- 
cause parents, teachers, and friends have been too negligent or 
too cowardly to deal with the problem and furnish the needed 



MORAL ASPECTS 1 17 

and legitimate information; hence the selfish exploitation of 
perfectly normal development goes on. Surely adolescence is 
greatly sinned against. 

But fortunately there are other and more encouraging ten- 
dencies and characteristics to describe; not only is adolescence 
a time of moral turmoil and danger, sensitive to criminal lead- 
ings and easily exploited, but it is also the period rich in ideals, 
visions, and high aspirations. 

"The Youth, who daily farther from the east 
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, 
And by the vision splendid 
Is on his way attended." 

In early adolescence the '^ideals, to be sure, are often crude, 
changeable, and vague; frequently they are ridiculous and im- 
possible of realization; the boy may want to be a "pugilist and 
all-round sport," the girl may wish to be an actress; and at 
this time their ideals change rapidly. But there is an idealism, 
and this idealism is very helpful in carrying the youth past un- 
toward influences and aids greatly in shaping his life. When 
middle and late adolescence are reached, the ideals tend toward 
more permanence, and, if the social and educational influences 
are fortunate, we may expect higher aspirations and a fine 
spirit of altruism. The youth often believes that he is to play 
a great and important part in the drama of life; he is impatient 
with existing conditions and he feels that he was "born to 
set them right;" the older people around him are dreaming, 
but he is young and he "sees visions;" and withal a splendid 
moral enthusiasm carries him forward, and, if he has real abil- 
ity and wholesome surroundings, a pleasing and strong char- 
acter is taking shape. 

What is the origin, meaning, and function of these ideals, 
which are so significant at this time? Literally the term sug- 
gests something existing in the mind only; it is a mental con- 
ception of what is most desirable; for the time being it is thought 



Il8 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

of as an ultimate aim. But, although in general ideals do not 
stand for objective realities, they must not be conceived as 
chimeras or mere fancies and sentiments. Any such notion, 
besides being false, would unfit one to deal successfully with 
youth. As will be shown later, youthful ideals are determined 
largely by the concrete surroundings and experiences of the 
individual; from this aspect they have an objective and sub- 
stantial basis. An ideal, like an image, uninfluenced by ex- 
perience and environment is utterly impossible; thus, although 
an ideal is something intellectually conceived and entirely novel 
so far as the one entertaining it is concerned, it is built up from 
knowledge and contact with the real world. Hence realities 
dictate ideals; and experience, education, or anything that 
enlarges one's horizon and perspective modifies one's old ideals 
and brings new ones into existence. The double origin of ideals, 
that is, the individual and the social, is rich in suggestiveness 
for those who study adolescence from practical motives: since 
ideals are related to one's nature and faculties, we are reminded 
that no two adolescents are alike in their outlook and aspira- 
tions; and, because ideals are continually being multiplied and 
modified by knowledge and experience, we see emphasized 
again the importance of environment in its relation to moral 
growth and character formation. 

At certain times youth may be said fairly to revel in a world 
of ideals; instead of saying that the youth gets ideals, one might 
better say ideals get the youth. This is especially true, as 
R. S. Bourne has pointed out, when "the flood of life is checked 
in the direction of pleasure," which is likely to be selfish, and 
"it bursts forth in the direction of ideals." It is in this world 
of ideals that the past and future meet; the ideals are built up 
from all the past accumulated knowledge and experience, and 
they beckon youth on to a more glorious future; although they 
have their origin in the past, they function as a pull from before, 
rather than a push from behind. This is the thought that 



MORAL ASPECTS 1 19 

many poets have given us: it is ''the heavenly message" of 
the chambered nautilus which Holmes found by the unresting 
sea; it is the teaching of Tennyson's Merlin who follows the 
Gleam. It is in this zone of ideals that the formative processes 
are taking place. It is that zone in individual development that 
is fraught with uncertainty and dramatic interest; other parts 
of life are relatively mechanical. Bourne believes that we get 
few new ideals after we are twenty; "a man's spiritual fabric is 
woven by that time, and his experience, if he keeps true to 
himself, consists simply in broadening and enriching it." 
/ Although ideals uplift and brighten the life of the adolescent, 
they naturally give rise to a sense of incompleteness and fre- 
quently discontent; and here lies the danger. Unless youth 
presses forward toward the realization in part at least of his 
^ ideals, he will become, either moody and out of harmony with 
himself and life, or he will become a mere dreamer of dreams. 
We soon feel contempt for the one all of whose ideals are un- 
realized; ideals alone do not make a life significant; they must 
be backed by an active will; there must be brought about a 
union of reality and ideality. This calls for youthful courage, 
fidelity, and endurance; and it is the duty of the trainers 
of youth to encourage and hold the flickering attention to 
the prosaic task of realizing worthy ideals. The will must 
be tempered to the task; for there is a conflict continually 
going on between instincts, with their accompanying pleasant 
habits, and ideals; and youthful exuberance and love of pleas- 
ure are prone to follow the dictates of the moment, which are 
naturally instinctive in their origin. It is a conflict in which 
youth needs adult aid; but it is easy for adults to forget that 
youth has the really serious business of life on hand and that 
the conflict is being waged without the vantage-ground which 
age has reached. Those who sympathetically understand what 
is happening at this time can aid youth to conceive his ideals 
more clearly and guard them against particular momentary 



I20 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

impulses, and thus assist in conserving and directing the splen- 
did idealism and energy of youth. There appears to be no 
more practical way of aiding the moral growth of adolescents; 
for the ideal serves as an archetype for the determination of 
action and character. As Kant asserts, "we have no other 
rule of our action but the conduct of that divine man within 
us, with which we compare ourselves, and by which we judge 
and better ourselves;" though we never really reach the ideal, 
as it fortunately keeps moving on. When the origin and the 
realization of his ideals have a seat in the will, the life of youth 
is greatly intensified and transfigured. 

The foregoing rather general discussion of ideals and their 
function in moral development may well be supplemented by 
a brief account of the studies of youthful ideals that have been 
made by Barnes, Thurber, Kdein, Friedrich, and many others; 
there is sufficient agreement to make the results suggestively 
helpful, and their findings will add concreteness to our thinking. 
All found that ideals depend upon many conditions, such as, 
age, social status, school education, environment, and sex. 

If a curve is plotted to show the proclivity of any particular 
ideal, it is found that increasing age gives rise to marked changes. 
Barnes found that in general "local ideals die out and are re- 
placed by world ideals;" this clearly makes for permanency 
and growth in the moral world, and is a safeguard against the 
loss of our social and moral heritage. As age increases, the 
ideals are drawn more and more from historical and public 
characters and heroes of philanthropy; and the ideal occupa- 
tions pass from industrial to professional and technical pur- 
suits. As adolescence advances, the youth is less impressed 
with things of material value, such as wealth and beauty, and 
his idealism turns more toward spiritual values. 

The ideals of adolescents are greatly influenced by their 
social station; this well illustrates the fact, already noted, 
that ideals, like images, are built up from data already in the 



MORAL ASPECTS 121 

mind. Poor children "look forward willingly to severe labor 
and the increased earnestness of adolescent years." At twelve 
there arises "the desire for the welfare of parents;" at thirteen 
the girl's ideal is to be a dressmaker, a clerk, or a stenographer; 
at fourteen the boy's ideal is a place in a bank or office. All 
expect to give up the joys of childhood. 

Some of the studies show that ideals depend in a measure 
upoE the kind of schools attended; the difference is marked 
between different countries. Friedrich found that among Ger- 
man children historical characters lead at first, due doubtless 
to the way they are taught history in the seventh and eighth 
grades; the immediate environment of the children seemingly 
had little influence. Neumann, who has given the matter care- 
ful study, thinks the difference in the ideals of German chil- 
dren is due to fundamental differences in the German school 
system. 

As illustrative of the influence of environment, country chil- 
dren are more altruistic and show more originality in their ideals; 
American children show more " expansiveness of ideals" than 
the children of London; and a larger number of the girls in 
America choose male ideals than do English girls. 

Perhaps sex plays the most significant part in the formation 
of adolescent ideals. According to Barnes, the girl is more 
likely to find her ideal within the immediate circle of her acquain- 
tance than the boy; but there is a marked tendency, beginning 
with the on-coming of adolescence, to find an ideal in some his- 
toric or public character. Boys very seldom, and only when 
very young, choose women as their ideals; but in the United 
States two-thirds of the girls choose men. This seems very 
unfortunate, and, as Dr. Hall understands it, shows a "divorce 
between the life preferred and that demanded by the interest 
of the race;" and "saddest and most unnatural of all is the 
fact that this state of things increases most rapidly during just 
those years when ideals of womanhood should be developed 



122 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

and become most dominant, till it seems as if the female char- 
acter was threatened with disintegration." Girls are more 
conservative in their ideals than boys; they are influenced more 
by ethical and social qualities; while the boys admire military 
heroism and inventive genius. Mere prowess and courage 
appeal strongly to the adolescent boy; he naturally despises 
anything that savors of what he calls "yellow;" and, because 
of his experiences, his ideals of sportmanship are naturally 
more highly developed. With the boy, group solidarity is 
often exalted into an ideal; hence to weaken his allegiance to 
his group is to attack his idealism. 

In concluding this discussion of adolescent ideals and the 
part they play in the upbuilding of moral character, it is of 
much practical importance to remember that the guidance of 
youth by command must now gradually yield to guidance by 
ideals; hence the shaping of conduct and character becomes 
more and more an affair of aiding in the formation of youthful 
ideals. It is well to recall Dr. Hall's summary concerning char- 
acter: character in infancy is all instinct; in childhood it is 
slowly made over into habit; while in adolescence it can be cul- 
tivated through ideals. Thus the natural means of control at 
this period is that body of ideals which youth can be helped to 
form; and J. W. Slaughter believes that "his great problem 
and source of perpetual suffering is the chasm between what 
he is and what he desires to be," which is doubtless true of 
nearly all serious minded adolescents, and suggests that they 
really feel the need of the good offices of sympathetic adults. 

With regard to the moral life in general it may be said, that 
the chasm between what one is and what one desires to be simply 
suggests the old struggle that has always gone on between the 
forces of sin and the forces of virtue; and this whole chapter 
has been occupied with an account of this battle royal which 
the adolescent wages, a warfare that usually waxes hottest 
during the middle teens, the time of exaggerated moral tenden-' 



MORAL ASPECTS 



123 



cies, the time when the greatest number of first crimes are com- 
mitted and the greatest number of conversions to a rehgious 
hfe occur. Something within continually insists: "Choose ye 
this day which ye shall follow," and significant is the choice. 

Practical considerations make it necessary to bear in mind 
that moral maturity is not only the result frequently of a 
struggle, but also the effect of an evolution. From youthful 
impulses must be evolved character; from youthful passion 
and enthusiasm come the highest aspirations and the greatest 
deeds of which human beings are capable. C H. Lewes has 
aptly compared the gradual toning up and harmonizing of the 
various dissonant elements of character to the tuning of an 
orchestra. "The changes slowly determining the evolution 
of character, when from the lawlessness of youth it passes into 
the clear stability of manhood, resemble the evolutions of har- 
mony in the tuning of an orchestra, when from stormy discords, 
wandering in pursuit of concord, all the instruments gradually 
subside into the true key: round a small center the hurrying 
sounds revolve, one by one falling into that center, and increas- 
ing, at first slowly, and afterward with ever accelerated velocity, 
till victorious concord emerges from the tumult." 

It is practical to remember that moral growth and maturity 
of character, like other progress in nature, come about and are 
conditioned by exercise; this certainly means a pretty gener- 
ous, and, to some, alarming, degree of personal liberty and re- 
sponsibility, much genuine expressional activity along many 
moral lines. Moreover this part of the treatment of youth 
must not be unduly delayed: in case of delay the spirited youth 
will simply take matters into his own hands and break away; 
or, as Dewey warns us, "if the germinating powers are not 
used and cultivated at the right moment, they tend to be trans- 
itory, to die out, or to wane in intensity." However, in the 
case of the high-mettled youth nature has pretty thoroughly 
guarded against moral powers being allowed to perish by des- 



124 PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE 

uetude, for he is generously endowed with a desire to "eat of 
the tree of knowledge of good and evil." For him danger lies 
in the wrong use of his moral powers. It would seem that the 
safest and most natural way to exercise the youth's moral judg- 
ment is to make him feel that he is part of a cooperating group 
and that on him rests a social responsibility; his loyalty to 
the group and its purposes should both restrain and stimulate 
him; in this way let us hope that he will learn the habits of 
response to social and moral situations. In this manner we 
cooperate with what Wordsworth calls "the benign tendencies 
in human nature and society." This phase of the subject 
is continued in the chapter on social activities, in which an 
effort is made to show that the school is something more than 
an intellectual workshop. 

In conclusion, it remains to say a word concerning the per- 
sons best suited to aid the adolescent in his efforts to learn how 
to live, for this, in brief, is all that is meant by moral growth 
and development. Youth is naturally suspicious and some- 
times scornful of the conservatism and inertia of older people; 
hence only those who remain youthful in spirit can hope to 
influence greatly the boys and girls in their teens. Earl Barnes 
says: "The passing generation smiles and cracks its weather- 
worn jokes about youthful effusions." The attitude that is 
shown by this kind of joking, which at bottom is often an ex- 
hibition of impatience, is extremely offensive to the rising gen- 
eration, and adults who indulge in this kind of humor, are not 
taken very seriously by their youthful acquaintances; for they, 
in turn, are held in contempt by youth, who exclaim, "O ye 
of little faith!" It is extremely unfortunate that often, during 
the period when personal loyalty is the dominating character- 
istic, neither a parent nor a teacher is deemed worthy to be 
taken as an ideal by the youthful hero-worshiper; for, if there 
is any one influence that will make the adolescent's progress 
safe, it is that of a strong and good personality; only "a true 



MORAL ASPECTS 125 

knight of the spirit" can lead venturesome youth to moral 
victory. Some one with strength of character and convictions 
must be at hand to speak out in unmistakable tones concern- 
ing the moral issues of life (there must be no preaching) ; this 
always requires judgment and sometimes courage. Finally, 
and most commonplace of all, he who would shape the moral 
life of any adolescent must embody the principles and truth 
that he would teach; Emerson was discerning enough to dis- 
cover long ago that the reason people do not heed us is that 
"they see the mud at the bottom of our eye." 

The vital subject of rendering help to the adolescent in his 
struggles toward higher moral living will be continued in a 
later chapter on "Moral Education." 



PART II — HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 
CHAPTER VIII 

TRANSITION FROM THE ELEMENTARY TO THE 
SECONDARY SCHOOL 

The Junior High School 

I 

One of the oldest and most insistent problems connected 
with the educational welfare of American children is how suc- 
cessfully to make the transition from the elementary to the 
secondary school. It is a problem whose solution rests on gen- 
eral psychological and educational principles, but it does not 
readily lend itself to a general solution; it must be studied and 
worked out, on the side of organization at least, in accordance 
with the needs and conditions of each community. It is at 
this point that our system of public education has been most 
frequently and vigorously attacked; and we are well aware 
that the critics, whether within or without the profession, 
have found no dearth of concrete arguments with which to 
support their various contentions. The elementary and the 
high school each frequently blames the other, and the recrimin- 
ations have given rise to more heat than light. For many years 
the American high-school teacher has had to listen to the charge 
that less than half the pupils who enter ever reach the second 
year of the high school; and this charge has naturally been 
met by the countercharge that the elementary school does not 
properly prepare its pupils for high-school work. Besides the 
general feeling of dissatisfaction with the puplic school system 
at this point of transition, there have been scientific studies 

126 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 127 

which emphatically point to the necessity of a more explicit 
recognition of the interests and needs of on-coming adolescence, 
as well as, of the social demands which many pupils of this 
period will soon be obliged to face. On the whole, high-school 
executive officers have come to feel that the American high 
school, in spite of the many evidences of faith which the people 
have shown, is somehow on trial; and those responsible for the 
elementary schools are aware that there is something radically 
wrong with the work of the upper grades. 

For these weaknesses of which we have so long been conscious 
many remedies have been tried both in the upper grades and 
in the secondary schools. But the treatment has not effected 
any real cure; alleviation at some points is the most that can 
be claimed for the most successful efforts at improvement under 
the old form of organization. These efforts to correct the faults 
and strengthen the weak places have taken shapes too numer- 
ous to mention. On the part of the elementary school, there 
have been the ''enriching" idea, the reducing of the number of 
grades from eight to seven, the introduction of manual train- 
ing and branches of home economics, the beginning of foreign 
languages, elementary algebra, and concrete geometry in the 
upper grades, the introduction of new courses in civics, organ- 
ization on departmental lines, etc. On the part of the second- 
ary schools, there have been tried an advisory system for first 
year pupils, supervised study for the earlier years, general 
science in place of the organized sciences, the direct method of 
attacking foreign languages, and the introduction of numerous 
vocational courses. But, viewing our educational system as 
a whole, the most optimistic do not claim any great success. 
The returns seem to indicate that the trouble is too fundamental 
to be reached by any or all such remedies as these just mentioned, 
and that no patching-up scheme will suffice. 

Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect a great degree of success 
from a plan of organization which came about largely as a 



128 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

matter of accident. At present it would seem that students *■ 
of education do not attempt to justify our 8-4 plan by the psy- | 
chology of childhood and adolescence, or by a comparative 
study of educational systems, or on the ground of local condi- 
tions and demands. The elementary part of our system, which 
may consist of seven, eight, or nine grades, came to this country 
before our present high schools were developed; it was imported 
from Europe, where it was devised by the aristocracy to serve 
what they thought to be the needs of the poor people and to 
train them humbly to serve and obey those above. Thus our 
8-4 arrangement is a historical accident; yet, strange to say, 
it has now no exact parallel in Europe. Moreover, it is charged 
that the elementary school, as it now functions, leads nowhere; 
it neither prepares its pupils for their work in the secondary 
school, nor is it planned to fit them for their part in the world's 
work. 

Instead of continuing this artificial and accidental arrange- 
ment, which, it is claimed, has made successful transition from 
the elementary school to the high school impossible for so many 
American youths, hundreds of cities and towns are reorganizing 
the curriculums of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, and 
introducing into the system a new unit, which has been most 
commonly named the junior high school. This form of organ- 
ization has been recommended by nearly all the important 
surveys, and everything indicates that it is making a strong 
appeal to many of even the conservative educators. In an 
address before the National Education Association in 191 6, the 
late Dr. C. H. Johnston said: "The junior-high-school move-] 
ment is sweeping the country. It marks a general educational 
reawakening, renaissance, reconstruction. This Association 
has made it first a field of investigation, then a propaganda and 
slogan, now a constructive program for development." What- 
ever may be the outcome, it is certainly, when considered 
psychologically, the most radical and vital change that has 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 129 

been seriously proposed in this country; and it would seem to 
furnish a solution of the troublesome problem involved in mak- 
ing the transition from the grades to the high school; for the 
new plan proposes to "bridge the gap" by means of the junior 
high school, one of whose functions it is to furnish a natural 
and easy transition. 

II 

This opinion concerning the function of the junior high school 
will doubtless appeal to all who have the point of view set forth 
in the first part of this book, a psychological viewpoint which 
will determine much of the discussion that follows. In the 
introductory chapter it was stated that there are two ways of 
deciding questions pertaining to either method or curriculum 
content; namely, by consulting the nature and the individual 
needs of the pupils, or, by studying the social outlook and try- 
ing to meet the needs of the community. Regardless of the 
relative merits and claims of these two criteria, the reader will 
expect to find the first adhered to throughout this and the fol- 
lowing chapters, as indicated by the title of the book. To 
those who are imbued with the psychological method of deter- 
mining pedagogical matters it will at once appear how com- 
pletely and how perfectly the 6-3-3 P^^-n of organizing the work 
of the public schools fits the various epochs of childhood and 
youth. 

According to the new plan, the elementary school with its 
six grades practically parallels later childhood and preado- 
lescence; and the work of this part of the curriculum, both 
as to content and method, is well suited to the nature and 
needs of children from six to eleven years of age, and seems to 
constitute a natural unit. As shown in Chapter II, this is 
the time and place to master the tools of education and accum- 
ulate a mass of fundamental and elementary knowledge neces- 
sary to all the various walks of life. It was also shown that 
by nature pupils during this period readily submit to dogmatic 



I30 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

instruction and much drill, both of which are necessary to a 
thorough grounding in the elements and a secure fixing of the 
habits of accuracy and rapidity. 

The next stage of development in the individual, as ex- 
plained in the third chapter, is early adolescence, covering 
indefinitely the years from twelve to fourteen or fifteen; it 
will be remembered that the onset of adolescence occurs about 
a year and a half earlier with girls than boys. Thus the junior 
high school proposes to take the boys and girls when most of 
them are about to enter the pubertal stage and try to deal with 
them as their nature demands during this ''first flush of adoles- 
cence," when their aptitudes and interests, as we have seen, 
are changing and are very different from those of the preadoles- 
cent. The psychological view of this matter demands that we 
begin early if we are to influence the adolescent in a large and 
fundamental way; and it logically demands that we be able 
to recognize fully the great variety of individual differences, due 
to both nature and nurture, that at this time become so marked, 
the whole life of the early adolescent and his changing social 
demands being summed up in the phrase "increasing variabil- 
ity." This view further demands that we provide machinery 
sufficiently elastic to meet the varying interests and needs of 
early adolescence. 

This is part of the proposed program of the junior high-school. 
Then, too, paradoxical as it may appear, following the last 
statement, early adolescence is a time when provision must be 
made for some sort of social solidarity. Boys especially wish 
to act in unison; they now desire to be one in spirit; they are 
not unlike the men of feudal times, who are their protot3Apes. 

Thus the junior high school would seem to rest on a sound 
psychological basis; and its degree of ultimate success will 
depend upon the accuracy with which the educational experts 
are able to choose suitable subject-matter and fitting methods 
for this particular stage of development. 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 13 1 

ni 

Although the junior high school seems to have suddenly made 
its appearance on the educational horizon, and the movement 
has been rapid, its history really reaches back pretty well 
into the last quarter of the nineteenth" century. As in 
other movements, those who have contributed to it did so 
often without being aware as to what would be the ultimate 
outcome of their thinking and efforts. Doctor Eliot, when 
president of Harvard University, prompted largely by his 
desire to have students ready for college at an earlier age, be- 
gan before 1890 to urge that secondary education should "dip 
down" into the last two grades of the elementary school. Then 
we find in the report of the Committee of Ten that each of the 
sub-committees, which were made up of experts, asked that 
work on its particular branch be begun in some simple form in 
the grades, "or as an alternative, the secondary-school period 
be made to begin two years earlier." Although it was not 
definitely recommended, the Committee clearly had in mind the 
6-6 plan. During the last decade of the century, discussions 
on all sorts of educational reforms tending toward the junior 
high school became general in educational literature and at 
educational gatherings. President Butler of Columbia, in 1898, 
was probably the first to urge in this discussion a curriculum 
based on the nature and development of the child's mind. He 
maintained definitely that a period of six years is sufficient for 
elementary education and that the nature of adolescence 
should determine secondary education both as to the length 
of time and the nature of the work required. During the first 
four years of the present century, probably all the possible 
arguments both for and against the junior high school were 
brought forward. Dewey urged an equal division of the twelve 
school years, on the ground that such an arrangement would 
make possible a closer relation with social life. Then Hanus 
and Snedden claimed for pupils in the two upper grades the 



132 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

right to vocational training; and the latter came out definitely 
for differentiated curriculums as a means of enlisting public in- 
terest and meeting the needs of the community. At the Na- 
tional Education Association in 1905, E. W. Lyttle urged that 
"secondary education should begin as soon as the elementary 
pupil has acquired the tools with which he may gain a higher 
education;" he then believed that this could best be accom- 
plished by the 6-6 plan; and he definitely advocated for the 
high school differentiation along the lines of business, mechan- 
ical arts, and the professions. In his report to the National Ed- 
ucation Association three years later, as chairman of the com- 
mittee on six-year courses, Lyttle recommended a provisional 
curriculum for the seventh and eighth grades, which called for 
approximately seventy per cent required work and the remain- 
der elective. An examination of the junior-high-school curric- 
ulums now in force shows about the same division between 
required and elective subjects. 

Since about 1909 the movement has passed out of the stage of 
reports and recommendations, and rapid headway has been 
made throughout the country in the establishment of junior 
high schools. At the meeting of the National Association in 
19 1 2, Francis of Los Angeles described the work of his "inter- 
mediate schools," the name which seems to be in favor on the 
Pacific coast. Professor T, H. Briggs of Columbia, in his chap- 
ters on Secondary Education in the Report of the United States 
Commissioner of Education for 19 14, states that one hundred 
and sixty-seven cities with a population of 25,000 or over then 
had junior high schools, as defined in his questionnaire; and 
since then this form of organization has increased still more 
rapidly. In the school year 1917-18, out of the 1165 schools 
in the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary 
Schools, 293 secondary schools, that is, one fourth of the num- 
ber reporting, claimed to have some form of junior-high- school 
organization, and twenty-five per cent of these were es- 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 133 

tablished during the year covered by the report. However, 
this list is somewhat swollen by the names of places where the 
junior-high-school organization is certainly not complete ac- 
cording to the most commonly accepted definitions. In a 
number of instances, the new arrangement seems to be confined 
so far to mere organization, the complete changes in curriculum 
and method (which constitute the vital part of the movement) 
being expected later. Although suspended judgment is still 
the only safe attitude to assume concerning the claims made in 
many places of increased interest on the part of the pupils and 
patrons, of gains in enrolment, and of success in retaining pu- 
pils longer in high school, this sketch would seem to indicate that 
the junior-high- school movement is the most widespread and 
important educational development that this country has yet 
experienced; of the final results or of the complete success it is 
impossible to make even a conservative prophecy. Much will 
depend upon the degree of thoroughness with which the sub- 
ject-matter and the method of treatment are made to meet the 
varying needs of the pubescent boys and girls of the different 
communities. 

IV 

This account of the junior high school may gain somewhat in 
clearness and completeness if we attempt to formulate a defini- 
tion and state its purpose, although it is extremely difficult to 
deal in any formal way with a concept so new, complex, and 
rapidly changing. Thus far it would seem that the junior 
high school is an organization of the seventh, eighth, and ninth 
grades into an administrative unit for the purpose of furnish- 
ing education and training suitable to the varied and changing 
mental and social nature and needs of early adolescents and at 
the same time meeting the vocational demands of the commu- 
nity by means of partially differentiated curriculums. v This 
statement implies a separate management of the three grades 



134 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

concerned and a reorganization of the subject-matter on a 
sound psychological and pedagogical basis. It may also be 
understood to include an effort to harmonize the work of the 
school and the social outlook of the pupils. We should hope, 
too, that this definition includes a homogeneous atmosphere 
peculiar to the age and condition of the pupils of the school. 
It is proposed, also, to effect greater unification by means of 
some kind of departmental arrangement, and greater flexibility 
is gained by subject- rather than class-promotion. According 
to the conception set forth in this definition, the junior high 
school is much more than a mere scheme for "bridging the gap 
between the grammar grades and the high school," as Stetson 
defines it, although it is sincerely hoped that it will accomplish 
this; and it certainly has a more unique and independent func- 
tion to perform than simply "to give the pupils an opportunity 
to become familiar with secondary-school organization, cus- 
toms, and manners," as Tomlinson maintains, although this 
is doubtless a real advantage to the pupils. Finally, the defini- 
tion implies something more fundamental and vital than a 
convenient arrangement for "an earlier introduction of pre- 
vocational work and of subjects usually taught in the high 
•school," as Briggs defines the junior high school in the Report 
of the United States Commissioner of Education in 1914, how- 
ever important both of these objects may be. Six years later, 
Briggs gives expression to a much deeper insight regarding 
the junior-high-school movement; and his form of statement 
suggests the viewpoint of this discussion. "In its essence," 
he says, " the junior high school is a device of democracy 
whereby nurture may cooperate with nature to secure the best 
results possible for each individual adolescent as, well as for 
society at large." 

From the standpoint of this book, if the junior high school 
is not founded primarily on the psychology of early adolescence 
as to curriculum, administration, and method, it forfeits its 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 135 

claim to exist as a separate educational unit, for it will not 
have any distinct pedagogical function. It is only because so 
much work has been done in the field of adolescent psychology 
that the evolution of a junior high school on a scientific basis is 
possible; and no principal, or other school officer, should try 
to do constructive work for this worthy cause unless he has a 
working knowledge of the latest findings concerning adolescent 
nature; as Dewey has shown, the focus must always be first 
on the educand. 

Moreover, the aim or purpose of the junior high school is 
frequently stated in terms of social and industrial efficiency; 
this would seem to be yielding to the immediate needs of the 
community, a procedure that many believe may not in all cases 
be conducive to the most complete development of the individual 
pupils; but, when the directors of the country's industrial 
and economic activities are asked to declare themselves on this 
matter, they urge ''the necessity of an education whose chief 
purpose is to develop initiative and personal resources of in- 
telligence," as Dewey phrases it. This, it would appear, is 
but another way of saying that, if the purpose of education at 
this point is to discover and develop the strictly personal powers 
and characteristics, it can be brought about with more certainty 
by those who best understand the nature and aptitudes of the 
pupils and are most alert in recognizing their many powers and 
possibilities as fast as they appear; thus we are brought back 
again to a knowled ge of child and adolescent nature as the only 
safe foundation upon which to~^build. ~ 



There are indications that the junior high school in its present 
stage of development is in danger of becoming merely an admin- 
istrative device; if this should happen, doubtless our public 
schools would profit to a certain extent in the matter of organi- 
zation; but the movement would fall far short of its possibili- 



136 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

ties. It is especially to the modifications that are urgently- 
needed in the curriculum and the methods of presenting sub- 
ject-matter that we are to look for the changes that are really 
vital, because it is here that the peculiar claims of the pubescent 
group involved can be fully met. Hence much of the remain- 
der of this chapter will be occupied with a discussion of the 
curriculum and methods. 

Although the curriculum suggested later is the result of the 
most progressive thought and practice of many leaders in this 
movement throughout the country, there is nothing very novel 
or strange as it appears on paper. The most radical differences 
are to result from a thorough overhauling of the subject-con- 
tent; this is necessary to place the work of the school on a 
firm psychological basis; this revision will involve considerable 
elimination of non-essentials, some condensation, the introduc- 
tion of new material of a concrete nature, and much correlation 
with the work of the elementary school and the senior high 
school. This is a problem to be worked out gradually by each 
department of instruction. The result should be courses con- 
siderably modified both as to material and organization, rather 
than a curriculum made up largely of new subjects. 

In the making of a curriculum for the junior high school there 
are a few guiding and, as it seems to the author, fundamental 
propositions to be held in mind; some of them it must be ad- 
mitted are still in dispute, hence they are not principles in the 
fullest sense of the term. 

(i) As in other schools, the number and nature of the subjects 
placed in the curriculum must be carefully limited by the size 
of the school, the number of teachers on the staff, and the re- ^ 
sources of the supporting community; but the aim of the junior 
high school cannot be reached nor its essential characteristics 
developed without an enriching of the program of studies. 

(2) All subject-matter must be adaptable to the needs, in- , 
terests, and aptitudes of the pupils who are entering and passing 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 137 

through early adolescence. This is a proposition easy of state- 
ment but difficult of application; for it demands at every point 
a sympathetic knowledge of adolescent nature and a sure feel- 
ing for the elements of the subject-matter that are suited to 
the purpose in hand. The proposition may be understood as 
supplementary to, or helpful in the application of, the one just 
stated. 

(3) Nearly all the subjects placed in the curriculum should be 
rich in content; pupils in these grades are entering a stage of 
development when content is much more important than form. 
The demands of boys and girls of this age for a richer and more 
vital content is a natural expression of their broadening inter- 
ests. 

(4) The curriculum should emphasize "the sv stematic mas- 
t ery of race experience as the basic condition of hum an welfare 
and human progress," to use the language of Dr. Bagley in 
his now famous paper read before the department of superin- 
tendents in 1 9 14. There must be subjects that will furnish 
"a common basis of certain ideas and ideals and standards 
which go a long way toward insuring social solidarity — a basis 
of common thought and common aspiration which is absolutely 
essential to an effective democracy." It is not necessary to 
remind readers familiar with educational discussion that this 
proposition has been much disputed; it opens the whole ques- 
tion of vocational and cultural studies and their place in our 
educational scheme, a field of discussion which cannot be en- 
tered at this point. However, the present author is convinced 
that Dr. Bagley's claims are well founded and can be met by 
making about three-fourths of the work in the jimior-high-school 
curriculum required of all pupils. This can be done without 
ignoring the demands of the second proposition. We must guard 
in every possible way against class stratification. Bagley and 
Judd have said jointly: "A school which gives to one class of 
children one set of ideas and ideals, and to another class an 



138 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

entirely different set of ideals, will make for social distinctions 
that are dangerous in a democracy." This proposition implies 
what several recent writers have been pleased to designate the 
integrating function of education. 

(5) The curriculum must be so arranged and administered as 
to make it possible for a pupil without loss to change his plan 
of work if he changes his purpose. There must always be an 
"open track." The pupil must at every step be master of 
his own fate. From an administrative point of view this is not 
always easy; but if matters are not so managed, the schools will 
not be true to American principles and ideals, which demand 
that the door of opportunity be always kept open. 

(6) For many reasons the curriculum must provide for in- 
dividual differences. Our study of adolescence taught us that 
individual variation is the law of this period of development, 
and that in all dealing with adolescents this is a major consid- 
eration. At this time individuals differ increasingly in ability, 
interests, tastes, and consequently in needs; all recent investi- 
gations are emphasizing this fact; and the curriculum must 
not fail to recognize it. The pupil must be given' that educa- 
tion and training which will most fully develop all his particular 
powers; and Dr. Johnston has reminded us that "no common 
elements can produce similar effects. Here it takes uncommon 
elements to produce similar effects." From the viewpoint 
of this book, all this is fundamental; but we reach the same 
practical conclusion when we attempt to meet the diversified 
demands and prepare for the manifold duties of the democratic 
society in which the boys and girls are soon to play their parts. 
Thus at this point the principle of individual development and 
the demands of social efl&ciency meet; what is well for the in- 
dividual is also servicable to the community. Hence, whichever 
criterion we use, curriculum differentiation is a crucial issue; 
without it the junior high school will fail to perform its most 
important function. 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 139 

(7) Although vocational needs are not ignored, strictly vo-. 
cational subjects should not find a place in the curriculum. To 
this negative proposition all educational leaders will not assent. 
There seems recently to have been a growing demand that the 
training given by the public schools shall be directly helpful in 
the individual's struggle for a living; this demand appears to 
grow out of the feeling that in the past the cultural side of edu- 
cation has been overworked to the neglect of the practical, 
industrial, and vocational; and in some places the employers of 
labor have added their influence. But let us beware of the 
swing of the pendulum. It can be shown that, when the wel- 
fare of the individual and the demands of the wider community 
are viewed in the long run, early specialization is not only un- 
pedagogical but also unfortunate. Bagley and Judd, in their 
joiat article, warn against the term "enrichment" being under- 
stood to include " a limited course preparing for a trade." With 
their joint authority, they contend that ''to give early a limited 
occupational training will tend (i) to set up class distinctions, 
and (2) to deprive large numbers of children of the broad basis 
of general and liberal training, which is essential to successful 
democracy." However, there can be planned courses in the 
practical arts that will serve as a means of general culture (us- 
ing the term culture in the broader sense explained in a 
later chapter) for the motor-minded pupils; but care must be 
exercised that this principle of selection of studies does not de- 
generate, as one writer has expressed it, into ''a sorting process 
based on social distinctions." Then, too, early adolescence is 
not the time for any form of intensive work in the narrow sense, ^ 
as has been made clear in Part I; and, in its practical workings, 
it is opposed to the policy of the "open track," already formu- 
lated. Whatever vocational aspects they may have, all the 
courses must be intellectualized and permeated with the atmos- 
phere of the school, which in the last analysis is cultural. How- 
ever, the junior high school can always draw with profit from 



I40 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the vocational activities of the world such materials and prob- 
lems as win make the work of the pupils more significant and 
consequently more appealing. 

The number and variety of subjects suitable to the needs of 
boys and girls from twelve to fifteen years of age has now be- 
come sufficient to make room for intelligent choice; one could 
probably list double the number of subjects that any pupil 
would be able to take. This wealth of appropriate subject- 
matter has come from two sources: those responsible for the 
elementary schools have been diligently organizing subjects with 
which to enrich their program of studies; and the high schools, 
with a view to vitalizing and giving greater variety to their 
work, have been adding subjects so rapidly to their many curric- 
. ulums that subjects are crowding each other out. Thus, 
there is sufficient material that has been tested from which to 
build the junior-high-school curriculums. And recent expe- 
rience in this matter seems to point clearly to the conclusion 
that it is easier to introduce new subjects when the 6-3-3 pl^^ 
is in operation than under the old form of organization, the fact 
being, as Briggs has called to our attention, that only a rela- 
tively small number of elementary schools have introduced 
even one or two of the subjects that nearly all the junior high 
schools are freely offering their pupils. The flexibihty of the 
new form of organization lends probability to Snedden's opin- 
ion that the junior high school will repeat the history of the 
four-year high schools and the colleges, wherein the increasing 
range of subjects has been a continuous sign of vitality. 

Notwithstanding the endless discussions that have been 
running in educational literature and the much speaking that 
has been indulged in at educational gatherings since before the 
I Committee of Fifteen made its report, and in spite of the en- 
'' riching process that has resulted, we know that from the stand- 
point of the pubescent there has been in the seventh and eighth 
grades much dreary duplication of the subject-matter of the 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 141 

earlier grades. The impatience of the sated boys and girls 
ought to suggest that something is seriously wrong with the 
many reviews with which the conscientious teacher fills in the 
time. The text-books used in the upper grades contain little 
more than elaborations of the topics studied in the lower grades; 
even newness in the manner of treating the topics is often lack- 
ing. No great degree of wisdom is required to see that, by 
persisting in our efforts at rounding out and completing the 
pupil's knowledge of the elementary subjects, the law of dimin- 
ishing returns becomes operative with the consequent loss of 
time and energy. Of course all this monotonous repetition has 
been planned in the interest of thoroughness, which is certainly 
a virtue, but many of the pupils have not been able to get our 
viewpoint; to them it has seemed a discouraging marking of 
time, against which many of them (especially the boys) have 
rebelled and sought activities outside the schoolroom in which 
there appears to be some progress and hence some significance. 
In spite of the teachings of the psychology of adolescence, we 
in our conservatism have gone on assuming that the boys and 
girls who are passing through early adolescence, with their 
new outlook on life, mil endure the same deadening drill and 
dogmatic treatment to which the preadolescent willingly and 
profitably submits; this is especially true of such subjects as 
arithmetic, grammar, and geography. Those who believe in 
the junior-high-school movement say that all this can and must 
be changed by making the character of the work offered and 
the method of presenting it fit the stage of development that 
the pupils have reached. When we consider the maladjust- 
ments in the upper grades and the alarming mortality in the 
first year of the high school, it is not surprising that this point 
has been the storm center of the adverse criticism directed 
against the public schools for the past ten or fifteen years. 

Besides being inspired by the idea of thoroughness for its 
own sake, educators have hoped that somehow much drilling 



142 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

and repetition during the last years of the elementary school 
would better prepare the pupils for their work in the high school 
and thus reduce the number of failures, which the teachers of 
the grades have not had reason to view with pride. Yet, not- 
withstanding this effort, the troublesome and, to many pupils, 
fatal chasm between the two schools remains unbridged. As 
some one has suggested, a pupil, on leaving the elementary 
school, may well burn his books, as he will never need to refer 
to them again; he is plunged into subjects which seem startlingly 
new and strange. Although '' bridging the gap" is not the 
primary function of the junior high school, as already defined, 
it is confidently believed that the new curriculimi will so merge 
the work of the junior and senior high schools that there will be 
no gap and therefore no problem of bridge-building. 

What, then, are the new subjects to be placed in the junior- 
high-school curriculum? And what changes of content must be 
made in the old subjects? Dr. C. H. Johnston has distinguished 
between the two kinds of curriculum making; one he describes 
as clerical and manipulative, and the other as characterized 
by discrimination based on carefully worked out educational 
theory and insight into the needs of individuals and groups. 
Mere shufiiing of the courses can give no assistance whatever in 
solving this problem ; it is not a case of revamping ; the problem 
is new and too delicate to be dealt with in any mechanical way. 
It is a problem, however, of building much old material into 
an entirely new structure. 

I. Because of its practical use, as well as its cultural value, 
all junior-high-school curriculums require some kind of work in 
f English throughout the three years. This should include and 
' correlate all the work in reading, literature, grammar, composi- 
tion, spelling, and penmanship. If the reader has in mind the 
characteristics of early adolescence, as described in Part I, he 
is aware that there is developing in the youth a great eagerness 
for real and intense expression, that in many of his reactions 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 143 

the motor elements are very prominent, and that social instincts 
and influences are beginning to play a large part. This is an 
age when words and forms of expression are naturally inter- 
preted in terms of physical reactions rather than as images or 
abstract ideas. This surely suggests that the curriculum of the 
junior high school should provide work in English that deals with 
immediate situations, situations that are so real and interesting 
that the pupil feels the need of expression. This means that 
the work must be closely related to his life; this may take the 
form of vocational activities, school interests, athletic sports, 
or " stunts " of various kinds; that is, the work must be so man- 
aged that the raw materials for training in English expression 
are the pupil's natural reactions to the situations in which he 
is placed, thus giving significance to the content of his themes. 
When adolescent enthusiasm growing out of real situations is 
so directed that it seeks self-expression, a real opportunity for 
that expression must be forthcoming; then the skilful teacher 
will be at hand ready to show the pupil how the ordinary tools 
of expression can all be made to contribute to his now urgent 
needs. These tools will include clear, correct sentences, words 
that fit the purpose, correct spelling and neat, legible penman- 
ship; all these matters of form must appear as means to the 
end, the end being determined as far as possible by the pupil's 
initiative. The course must lay but little emphasis on the 
finer techinque; for the wholesome adolescent is impatient with 
the finer distinctions, which appear merely as impertinent 
interference with the realization of his purpose. In other words, 
on the side of form nothing beyond a fair degree of mastery of 
the larger essentials should be sought, for monotony must be 
avoided at any cost. The materials included in this course 
should be rich in content; that is, they should contain ideas 
and experiences which touch the active life of the pupils. 

Remembering the imitative instincts of the period, there 
should be considerable reading to the pupils by a teacher who 



144 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

can do it with a compelling charm; this is a natural way of 
impressing upon the pupils the real significance and function of 
good form. Because the motor activities constitute so much of 
life at this time, there should be much opportunity for oral ex- 
pression, both oral reading and oral composition; now is the 
time when youth wishes to do, to express; and in this he needs 
much training, for his power to appreciate during adolescence 
naturally outruns his power of expression. 

If we are not forgetful of the social instincts due at this age, 
part of the work in English will take such form as to seek the 
approval of the group; this may be done in the classroom, at 
the school assembly, in the school paper, at public entertain- 
ments, or in literary organizations. Because personal loyalty 
is the prominent will-process during early adolescence, much of 
the English work of the curriculum should be made to appear as 
follow- the-leader stunts; thus the teacher must be enthusiastic 
and competent in the eyes of the pupils if they are to consider 
him worthy of leadership. 

2. If the work of the school in English is important on the 
side of form and expression, its work in science should be im- 
portant on the side of successful and purposeful action; and all 
junior-high-school curriculums thus far proposed require some 
form of elementary science. Psychological considerations de- 
mand that we make use of the rapidly expanding adolescent 
interests, especially the natural inquisitiveness which sometimes 
amounts to almost insatiable curiosity; this work can be made 
to contribute to the future welfare and satisfaction of the in- 
dividual and aid in laying the foundation for material progress. 
The aim of the work, to use the language of Professor F. D. 
Barber, a recent writer on elementary science, should be "to 
give, as far as possible, a rational, orderly, scientific understand- 
ing of the pupil's environment to the end that he may, to some 
extent, correctly interpret that environment and be master of 
it. It must be justified by its own intrinsic value as a training 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOI 145 

for life's work/' Incidentally the pupil may learn which of 
the special sciences he prefers and build a foundation for his 
later work in these sciences. The topics included in this course 
should be drawn largely from the life of the pupil and the com- 
munity, and much of the work should take the form of projects. 
Because the matters treated are somewhat familiar to the pupil 
and often closely connected with his experiences, they will 
have real significance and hence interest for him. The presen- 
tation must be as concrete as possible. 

At this age pupils are not much interested in things either 
abstract or highly specialized; they seek knowledge in broad, 
naturally connected masses; this means dealing with things 
as wholes and in the large. Incidentally the pupil will, we be- 
lieve, come to appreciate scientific problems as such and get 
some notion of scientific method. In English the rules and 
forms of oral and written expression are taught incidentally 
through actual use; and in the science work of the junior high 
school scientific principles and methods are gradually incul- 
cated through concrete experience and application; the same 
pedagogical principle applies in both lines of work and rests 
upon the same psychological basis. In manual training the 
project method has proved very successful; elementary science 
should employ the same principle in dealing with its problems. 

The recent discussions setting forth the merits of general 
science have brought to bear on the science courses and the 
teaching of elementary science much helpful adolescent psychol- 
ogy; and whatever the form of organization that may be given 
to the science work of the junior high school, the advocates of 
general science have made a real contribution by placing the 
emphasis on the psychological aspects of the problem. 

Further, it can be shown that the content of the science which 
is adapted to the interests and aptitudes of the pubescent is 
equally well suited to the needs of both the pupils who leave 
school early and those who remain to complete a well-rounded 



146 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

education in science: for the first, it is the most practical equip- 
ment we can give them both for the uses of the individual 
and for the demands of society, since the fundamentals are 
learned in their proper setting; for the second group, it has 
opened up in a broad way a great and interesting field of grow- 
ing human knowledge and at the same time equipped the learner 
with some simple, fundamental principles of physics, chemistry, 
and biology for use on the way. The curriculum may well 
include work in elementary physical science, geography on a 
physical basis, elementary botany and zoology. 
/ 3. For many reasons it seems best to require continuous 
work in some form of mathematics throughout the junior-high- 
school curriculum. In general, the interests and needs of the 
pupils will be better met if a wider range of mathematical facts 
and principles is attempted, provided the practice given to 
fix these facts and principles is made to touch life closely by 
means of much varied and purposeful experience. Due to 
the careful scrutiny that the elementary school has been re- 
ceiving, arithmetic, as taught, has come in for its share of ad- 
verse criticism, especially the work of the seventh and eighth 
grades. It is demanded that many of "the formal phases that 
can be justified only by tradition or by belief in the discredited 
doctrine of formal discipline" be eliminated, and that the waste- 
ful, unmotivated reviews that now consume so much time and 
energy, to the disgust of many of the pupils, be stopped. How- 
ever, the mathematics of the junior high school should include 
considerable arithmetic, because it can readily be related to 
the pupil's immediate interests and his efficiency in calculation 
must be maintained ; but, like the work in English and science, 
it must be vitalized by a closer correlation with the social and 
economic conditions which surround him and especially with 
the pupil's work in elementary science, mechanical and com- 
mercial subjects, and industrial art. The choice and arrange- 
ment of material and the methods of presentation are not to 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 147 

be determined solely by "the logical requirements of mathe- 
matics" but by the viewpoint of the pupil and his occupational 
and social needs. This means that manipulation as an end 
finds no place. The mechanical phases of the work will be 
emphasized only when needed to understand and fix mathe* 
matical principles. 

The most advanced doctrine relative to junior-high-school 
mathematics calls for the following: only "the necessary social 
and economic uses of arithmetic, intuitive geometry, a few peda- 
gogically selected topics in algebra, and numerical trigonometry." 
These are not taught tandem, and there is to be little emphasis 
upon the old-time divisions of mathematics. Schroeder and 
Clark demand that the topics be introduced "in such a way as 
to insure a maximum of direct and intense application, flexibil- 
ity, and significant interrelation;" "the unity of space and 
number" must persist throughout. The material is to be 
socialized "through a series of activities, projects or problems 
requiring cooperation and sharing of interest, efforts, and 
results." The content and method are to be determined largely 
by considering the pupils' present interests and needs, rather 
than with a view to preparing him for subsequent courses in 
mathematics. However, the pupil must not emerge without 
some degree of skill in the use of the commonly accepted mathe- 
matical tools, and he must possess certain important mathe- 
matical habits and ideals. All must be planned as though the 
pupil's acquisition of mathematical knowledge and formal 
training were to end with the junior high school, the thought 
being that all subsequent work in mathematics will be elec- 
tive. 

Although all this and more is suggested by the practice and 
experience of European schools and probably meets the approval 
of the National Committee on Mathematic Requirements, the 
conservative reader will pause and consider while he allows 
others to do the experimenting. However, the skilful teacher 



148 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

of arithmetic will make use of the simple equation and the im- 
known quantity when these will render aid in solving simple 
problems. The work in mensuration naturally leads the teacher 
to use intuitive and constructive geometry; and, since this 
work in geometry is so concrete, it is intensely interesting at 
this time. The work in constructive geometry leads by easy 
steps to many formal proofs. 

If the work in algebra is done in the second year, it should 
concentrate on a few topics, such as, the use of the formula, the 
simple equation, the graph in its simplest applications, and 
negative number. Nearly all of the mechanical phases of al- 
gebra can be easily taught in the second year of the junior high 
school; and the application of the equation to type problems 
is not beyond the ability of pupils of this age. The mathema- 
tics of the third year should include all the algebra that is re- 
quired. The work of the junior high school should call for 
the exercise of common sense in computing with approximate 
data; the pupils are old enough to enjoy and profit by this 
form of exercise. If the more technical forms of business 
arithmetic, such as, stocks, bonds, and insurance, are taught, 
they should come late in the course, as they require consider- 
able maturity of mind and greater mathematical knowledge. 

The work here indicated can be made a somewhat closely 
correlated course, for much of which carefully worked-out texts 
can be had; or the proposed work of the various branches may 
be given tandem instead of parallel. The author has experi- 
mented with both plans, but is not ready to decide between 
them; both have advantages and both have disadvantages too 
numerous to discuss here. Whatever the content and arrange- 
ment of the courses in junior-high-school mathematics, the 
aim should be, as Prof. E. H. Taylor of the Eastern Illinois 
State Normal expresses it, " to make the study of mathematics 
less formal, and make it more intuitive, concrete, and prac- 
tical; and to give to the instruction more unity." As he sug- 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 149 

^ests, the organization of the junior high school offers an ex- 
cellent opportunity to put this unifying idea into practice, and 
thus return to some of the recommendations of the Committees 
of Ten and Fifteen. 

"^ 4. History and civics, when properly taught, help the pupil 
to interpret his immediate social and political world and hence 
to act more intelligently and effectively in all his relations with 
this complex world. This is the justification of requiring all 
pupils in the junior high school to pursue courses in United 
States history, local and elementary civics. The other benefits 
of a more general nature in the guise of mental training, that 
are usually claimed for the study of history, will come as by- 
products, but they are not the less valuable. 

The budding social instincts of early adolescence prompt 
the boys and girls to begin to be interested in their immediate 
social surroundings; hence the following statements of A. A. 
Douglas concerning method and content are in keeping with 
the psychology of the period. He advocates that we "begin 
with the study of the civic and economic problems in the im- 
mediate environment, and follow these as they lead outside 
the home and the school to the city or community, state, and 
nation,'' the "social factors affecting the life of the child" re- 
ceiving the first attention. "Such topics as community health, 
industrial conditions, public recreation, city government, etc.," 
are suitable for all; and he insists "that the pupil be brought 
into actual contact with the problems he is studying." Again 
we meet the doctrine of the concrete and the tangible. 

Moreover, the history taught, as Tryon affirms, "will be 
planned for the sake of the pupils taking it, rather than for 
the sake of the subject." This means that the history of the 
junior high school "must be made to function in the form of a 
key to a right understanding of present-day conditions." It 
should serve as a background for the things that are happening 
in the immediate present, and, like the work in science, aid the 



I50 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

pupils in making effective connections with their surroundings, 
the one helping them to fit into their physical, the other, their 
social environment. 

So far as the students of this matter are able to learn through 
questionnaires and other sources, the program here proposed 
will mean in many school systems a radical transformation of 
method and subject-matter. The work here recommended 
should continue through the first two years. Ancient history 
is well suited to the pupils of the third year, as experience in 
many schools has shown; it is interesting at this age because 
of the material with which it deals and it opens up a new field 
for those who leave school when the work of the junior high 
school is finished; and it is the beginning of a new cycle for 
those who continue their history work in the senior high school. 

5. Because of its universal appeal and because the schools 
should train the individual for the proper and safe enjoyment 
of his times of leisure, some work in music and art, suited to 
the age and interests of the pupils, should be required of all. 
There should also be a carefully worked-out course in physical 
training extending through the three years; this should include 
everything which has been found to contribute to health and 
the up-building of a strong and efficient body. For this claim 
arguments are not needed. 

The required subjects here suggested will provide for what 
Dr. Bagley chooses to name general education, having for its 
content the "materials and processes which will be of probable 
value to every individual whatever his specific occupation or 
mode of life may be." These studies are to aid the youth in 
taking possession of the inherited "race experiences," which 
form "the basic condition of human welfare and human prog- 
ress," a rich inheritance of which no one must be deprived; 
it should constitute the educational background of our demo- 
cracy. 

What subjects are to be elective? The answer to this ques- 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 151 

tion involves some things that are new to the grades under 
consideration, at least so far as applies to most school systems. 
When the content and presentation are adapted to the age and 
development of the pupils, there are many and strong arguments 
for the following: Foreign languages, including Latin, French, 
and Spanish; subjects that contribute toward a business train- 
ing, including business English, commercial paper, business 
methods, elementary bookkeeping, and typewriting; manual 
training, with most of the time given to bench work; practical 
cooking and sewing, household management, and food preser- 
vation; and agriculture, taught as concretely as conditions 
will permit. Not many jimior high schools will find it best to 
offer all of these electives; local demands, equipment, and the 
resources of the community must determine. Although unlike 
the program of studies of any particular school, the foregoing 
is submitted as being t3^ical of the most progressive curriculum 
making thus far undertaken. 

The question remains as to what form this proposed program 
of studies shall take. Shall we arrange the subjects for each 
of the three years in two groups, making one group "required" 
and the other "elective;" or shall we build from the subjects 
suggested distinct curriculums such as are urged in a later chap- 
ter on the curriculum, the number and nature depending on 
the size of the school and the needs of the community? In the 
junior high school this would seem to be largely a matter of 
administration; the outcome for the individual pupil will be 
about the same, provided the suggested seventy per cent of the, 
work is taken from the required group of subjects which fur- 
nishes the basis for a general education. Some writers and a 
few administrators claim that this leads to a little more flexibil- 
ity in management than the curriculum system, a quality to 
be sought by every practical means. In case the curriculum 
method of combining subjects is used, it is suggested that at 
least five separate groups may be offered and designated as, 



/-• 



152 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

Business, Home Making, Mechanical, Agricultural, and For- 
eign Language. It will be understood that everything that 
has been said concerning the junior-high-school curriculum is 
tentative in the extreme; the whole field is rapidly changing, 
and the entire subject is in a formative condition. 

VI 

Appropriate methods of dealing with early adolescent boys 
and girls have been touched upon incidentally in our discussion 
of the curriculum. Since the major argument for the junior 
high school is that it makes easier the introduction of various 
improvements in method, any account of the movement that 
did not attempt to point out pretty definitely some of the pro- 
posed reforms would be very incomplete. A few writers 
recommend " a wise compromise " between the methods of 
the lower grades and those of the high school ; but this is too 
indefinite to be of service, and it is not psychologically sound 
advice. To the author improvement in method seems by far 
the most vital change that this new form of organization 
makes possible, for it is at this point that the psychology of 
adolescence and the newer principles of sociology can be most 
directly and intimately brought to bear. Unless those re- 
sponsible for the junior high school are earnestly to set about 
applying all that is latest and best in the studies of the 
leaders of educational thought, it would be better to retain 
for a while at least the older form of organization, as some- 
thing established and therefore more convenient. 

It will be remembered that our study of preadolescence led to 
the conclusion that the business of the elementary school is 
to give the pupil control of the educational tools, that instruc- 
tion may profitably be quite dogmatic, that children of this 
age readily submit to the necessary drill and the habit-forming 
processes, that their instincts and impulses must be organized 
along practical and effective lines, that vast stores of useful 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 153 

information may easily be accumulated, that the motor centers 
should be trained and developed, and that, because this is 
the time when the individual is entering into his common racial 
inheritance, there are many common tendencies and charac- 
teristics to which the school may effectively appeal. But all 
this pedagogy of preadolescence must be gradually given up in 
the junior high school, because of the vital changes that are 
taking place in the pupils, changes involving many new in- 
terests and demands. Most of the failure charged against the 
upper grades of the elementary school has come from the rigid- 
ity of method which did not recognize the changing interests 
and needs of the pupils. As we have seen in the earlier part of 
this book, new cell connections are now being made in the brain 
and these form the physical basis of the associations that are 
now being established, which largely determine the character 
of the individual. Individual inheritances are now being differ- 
entiated, as shown by the appearance of special abilities; and 
it is very important for the development and welfare of youth 
that these new variations be discovered when they emerge 
and that they be dealt with according to their nature. This 
clearly suggests that the methods employed at this time must be 
much more flexible, readily adjustable to the individual de- 
mands of the varying personalities that are now forming. The 
personal equation is now beginning to play so important a role 
that it cannot safely be ignored; all boys and girls at this time 
are exceptional and no stereotyped method will deal effectively 
with their changing and varying powers. 

In place of the early dogmatic methods, there must be a 
more frequent appeal to reason, which is now developing; 
facts must be presented in their natural and true relations to 
each other and their essential relations to life. The pupil's own 
iudividual thinking and opinions should begin to have recog- 
nition in the work of the classroom; this means an increasing 
freedom in discussion. This is the most practical way to make 



154 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

sure that the instruction is significant to the pupils; and, be- 
cause it has not been more significant, especially to the larger 
boys of the upper grades, they have become restless and often 
disgusted, and they have naturally transferred their efforts 
to other activities that to them seem to have more meaning 
and are consequently more interesting. The Gary system has 
been successful in reducing eliminations because it has made 
instruction significant to the pupils; there one may find the 
educational principles and the spirit needed in the junior high 
school, although Gary does not have that form of organization. 

Again, the nature of early adolescence demands that the 
subjects of the curriculum be given extensive, as distinguished 
from intensive, treatment. Youth prefers to deal with rather 
large masses of knowledge; and there must always be move- 
ment if there is not to be monotony. This method of treat- 
ment is, not only suited to the broadening interests of the pupils 
at this stage of development, but is best from the standpoint 
of their future educational welfare; for, whether they leave 
school early, or continue through the senior high school and 
college, it is psychologically right and helpful to get a bird's- 
eye view of the fields of human knowledge and see things in 
their large relations. This is the natural way to learn to dis- 
criminate relative values, and, as we have learned, the adoles- 
cent needs much help in the building up of his mental perspec- 
tive. 

Once more, if we are mindful of the independent personalities 
that are now appearing, there will be a gradual increase in the 
degree of responsibility placed upon the pupils. This is to 
the pupils a welcome change, because it is a recognition of their 
individual importance; and their instinctive desire for appro- 
bation tends to make them measure up to what is expected of 
them. This law of human nature is one that should now rapidly 
become operative. The form of organization of the junior 
high school, which is likely to be somewhat similar to the usual 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 155 

high-school organization, readily lends itself to the placing of 
more responsibility in the matter of conduct; this naturally 
calls for more self-control, a factor in human development 
of the greatest importance. Thus we have provided a natural 
transition from the elementary school to the higher schools. 

In connection with our account of the curriculum, it was 
frequently suggested that the method of presentation should 
be concrete whenever practical; this is pedagogical, because the 
pupils with whom we are dealing are still interested in things 
and movements, rather than abstract motives and principles. 
Abstract ideas must be built up largely by contact and expe- 
rience with the things of which these ideas represent the quali- 
ties, and the fundamental principles which we wish pupils to 
learn can best be obtained in their concrete setting. It is 
this phase of educational reform that several writers of recent 
text-books have had in view when developing the "project 
method" in connection with manual training, economics, 
agriculture, and elementary science. The older writers would 
call this the inductive method of approach; but it is more than 
the older school had in mind or ever put in practice. The newer 
theory demands that larger units be dealt with, and that we 
seek the rules and principles as they are found operative in the 
outside world, rather than in the experiments of the shop and 
laboratory; it assumes that the range of experience is not ex- 
hausted by the old-time studies and the stock experiments 
of the schools. There is little doubt that this new mode of 
approach gives greater pleasure to the pupil; this is what Bag- 
ley and Judd mean when they say, "it is just at this point in 
the school that the pupil, made acquainted with the fundamen- 
tal tools of experience in the lower grades, finds himself enter- 
ing productively into the enjoyment of his achievements." 

What is here urged concerning the methods of the junior 
high school can be summed up by saying, the one great aim is 
the conservation of the enthusiasm natural to youth; this en- 



156 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

thusiasm is vital to his wholesome psychic life and hence to 
his development. Monotony at any time is objectionable, 
but in dealing with pubescent boys and girls it is a cardinal 
educational sin. Much of the misconduct of the early adoles- 
cent, including his disgust for and his rebellion against the work 
and regulations of the schools, is a kind of reflexive resistance 
to the monotonous and hence hateful conditions; in his vernac- 
ular, there is "not enough doing." Or, we can sum up by say- 
ing, the enthusiasm natural to youth will be conserved when 
the content and methods of the school work, including all the 
activities, are made to conform to the particular stage of devel- 
opment that the pupils of the junior high school have reached. 

VII 

For a few years there will doubtless be considerable difficulty 
in securing enough well qualified teachers if the junior high 
schools increase in number as rapidly as they did during the 
first five years of the movement. Because of the more compli- 
cated form of organization made necessary by the junior high 
school, there will come increased responsibilities and difficulties 
in administration and discipline, and these must be shared by 
the teachers; more ability to cooperate will be demanded than 
is required of seventh and eighth grade teachers under the older 
form of organization. A broader educational outlook will be 
demanded as part of the teacher's equipment. But the impor- 
tant requisite to insist upon at the start is that the teachers shall 
have clearly in mind the junior-high-school idea or viewpoint 
and are enthusiastic concerning the movement. Since the 
pupils of this school are about to enter the estate of manhood 
and womanhood, it would be a real advantage to have the teach- 
ing staff equally divided between men and women; but this 
is not generally true in the senior high school and will probably 
not be practical for some time in the junior high school. A 
study of the matter by A. J. Jones of the University of Pennsyl- 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 157 

vania has convinced him that there is on the part of school 
officials a "general insistence upon a knowledge of children 
and sympathy with them;" this is certainly of prime impor- 
tance. Practical courses in preadolescence and early adoles- 
cence should aid much in giving teachers a working knowledge of 
the periods of development involved and contribute toward a 
pedagogical appreciation of the subject-matter dealt with. 

At the beginning superintendents wisely selected their 
junior-high-school teachers from the upper grades of the ele- 
mentary school who seemed best qualified for the new work 
and high-school teachers who had had experience in the grades. 
This is the best that can be done until specially trained teach- ■ 
ers can be obtained and there probably will soon be enough ■ 
trained teachers for this work if the junior-high-school move- 
ment continues; for in all fields of activity a demand usually 
creates a supply. Already educational experts in many col- 
leges and normal schools are offering courses in junior-high- 
school problems. A terminology of the subject has been devel- 
oped; and a voluminous literature is rapidly making its appear- 
ance^ In some parts of the country definite standards have 
been set. In California a holder of a normal school diploma 
with one year of college training or a holder of an elementary 
certificate with two years of college training may be granted 
a permit to teach in the junior high schools, there called "inter- 
mediate schools." In Hannibal, Missouri, the requirement is 
"not less than two years of student work of college grade pur- 
sued under conditions where the professional phase of teaching 
is predominant," as well as successful experience in dealing 
with pupils of adolescent age. Professor Cubberley, in his re- 
port of the Portland survey, recommends the following mini- 
mum requirement: "(i) graduation from a four-year high 
school; graduation from a standard normal school; one year 
of actual experience in teaching; followed by at least two years 
of college work, with preparation for special branches to be 



158 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

taught, or, still better, (2) college graduation, with practice 
teaching experience; or (3) the promotion of eminently success- 
ful teachers within the system, favoring those, other things 
being equal, who have had a year or two of college work or 
who have travelled abroad." At its meeting in 1918, the North 
Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools recom- 
mended, " that the standard of preparation for the teachers 
of the ninth grade of the junior high school be the same as 
the standard now administered for secondary teachers by the 
North Central Association," and that " an equally high stand- 
ard of preparation for the teacher for the seventh and eighth 
grades of the jimior high school should be insisted upon as soon 
as practicable." 

This fixing of standards and training of teachers will soon 
overcome the initial difficulty here under discussion. In sup- 
port of the high standards that are being advocated, the Fif- 
teenth Year Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Education quotes the opinions of about twenty-five superin- 
tendents and other school authorities concerning the training 
necessary for the junior-high-school teacher, and a large num- 
ber favor normal school training with a year or two of college 
work in the teacher's special subject; and the teacher for 
"this most trying stage of common-school education," as Pro- 
fessor H. A. Hollister characterizes it, should have experience; 
teachers can more safely experiment in the senior high school 
with pupils of middle adolesence than with the pubescents of 
the junior high school. To the author it seems that the most 
valuable experience preparatory to this work can be had in 
the elementary school; a teacher with sufficient educational 
background, who has just had a year or two of successful upper 
grade experience, will enter upon the duties of the junior high 
school with the enthusiasm natural to one who feels the stimulus 
of a well-earned promotion. 

In general, we may be pretty sure that the final outcome will 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 159 

be the bringing into the pubHc school system more good teachers. 
The diflS-Culties that have always been experienced in securing a 
sufficient number of suitable teachers for the upper grades will 
be largely overcome by the attractiveness of the junior-high- 
school positions; and it is beheved that the principalships of 
these schools will be likely to attract good men, whose in- 
fluence will thus earlier be brought to bear on the boys of the 
community. 

vni 

Professor A. J. Jones reminds us that nearly all the reforms 
in American education have been concerned with changes within 
the system; but that "within the past ten or fifteen years criti- 
cisms have been pointing more and more toward the organi- 
zation;" there is a growing conviction that internal reforms 
will not prove sufficient, but that radical changes in the organi- 
zation itself must be effected if far-reaching improvements are 
to result. Whatever may be the importance of the new arrange- 
ment as such, the most apparent and common change brought 
about by the junior high school has been in matters of organi- 
zation and administration. In fact, the study of the junior 
high schools in the territory of the North Central Association 
of Colleges and Secondary Schools made by C. 0. Davis of 
Ann Arbor leads him to conclude that "in scores of cases" the 
alleged reforms have consisted of a change of name and the 
introduction of a few alterations in the organization, rather 
than vital changes in purpose, studies, spirit, methods, and in- 
ternal administration; he believes that fully one third of the 
293 schools reported as junior high schools are a long way from 
really being such. 

What are the new features in organization that are charac- 
teristic of a typical junior high school? Without doubt the 
departmental plan, which has already proved its advantages 
in many places, will prevail. The practice of the regular high 
school in promoting by subjects, rather than by grades, has now 



l6o fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

generally been transferred to the existing junior high schools, 
lending greater flexibility and doing away with the rigid and 
frequently discouraging usage of the elementary schools. 
There must of necessity be a certain amount of classification 
and grouping; but the groups must not be rigid. As Dr. 
Johnston has said, "We must not allow the school to become a 
Procrustean bedstead." Children of this age sometimes differ 
fifteen inches in height, and there is no reason for thinking that 
they are any more alike in their social and mental traits. 

The discipline of the school can easily and profitably be made 
transitional between the elementary and high schools; it must 
be adjusted to early adolescents, especially in the matter of 
giving greater freedom and imposing more responsibility. 

It will not be found best to make the actual recitation for 
the younger pupils the full forty-five minutes common to high- 
school practice; shorter recitations with a greater number of 
subjects will broaden and give variety to the daily program of 
the younger pupils. This will not necessitate two kinds of 
recitation periods in the school and will occasion no administra- 
tive difficulty. When the teaching staff is sufficient, there can 
be uniform periods for all, with a provision for supervised study 
during part of the period. This will add to the flexibihty of 
the organization, and make it convenient for the school to per- 
form one of the important functions of the junior high school; 
namely, to teach pupils how to study. 

When possible it is highly advantageous, although not funda- 
mental, for a junior high school to have a separate building and 
especially a separate school life; this makes for convenience 
in meeting the individual needs of the pupils and providing 
the many activities outside the classroom which are so necessary 
in adapting the school life to the expanding natures of the pupils 
at this stage of development. There should be athletic teams, 
an orchestra, school colors, school yells, a literary society, and 
other things peculiar to the school; such features make school 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL i6l 

life worth while and provide training in group activity. A 
separate school life is conducive to these extra-class activities. 

The prerequisite for admission is another administrative 
aspect that has received considerable attention. It would 
seem that, if one of the chief reasons for a separate organiza- 
tion is that we may better adapt methods and subject-matter 
to pupils of nearly the same stage of development, then it would 
logically follow that a certain degree of physical and mental 
development, rather than a certain amount of subject-matter 
covered, should constitute the entrance requirement. This 
plan of admitting pupils would perhaps be more difficult to 
administer because less definite. 

Recent studies of the situation show a great variety of usage 
in the grouping of grades; all of the following plans are found, — 
6-2-4, 6-6, 6-3-3, and 6-4-2, with the largest number in the 
North Central territory using the first plan. However, the 
tendency seems now to be strongly toward the 6-3-3 arrange- 
ment, and that, as has already been explained, for psychological 
reasons. The other ways of grouping are often made necessary 
by local conditions, particularly by the housing facilities. 
When the school population is too small to warrant a junior 
high school, the 6-6 plan can easily be adopted and the psycho- 
logical advantages of the new idea secured. A decided majority 
of educational leaders, in keeping with the present tendencies 
in the junior-high-school movement, strongly favors some kind 
of arrangement which brings a change of method at the begin- 
ning of the seventh school year; this, it is pretty well agreed, 
is where secondary education should begin. This idea receives 
the support of the best European experience: in the English 
secondary schools, in the German gymnasium, and in the 
French lycee the pupils begin their secondary-school work from 
two to four years earlier than in this country, and the school 
curriculums range from six to nine years. In none of these 
countries does the elementary school, as we understand the 



l62 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

term, extend beyond six years. Moreover, all the discussion 
and all the experiments have, as the California Committee 
on Readjustment affirms, tended toward breaking up "the 
traditional notion about the grouping of grades." 

The junior high school is too new an institution to warrant 
students of education in making any safe generaUzations con- 
cerning its effect on such matters as enrolment, elimination, 
and retardation. But from the studies that have been at- 
tempted the following guarded statements emerge: (i) the 
increased enrolment in the last six grades is due in part to the 
junior high school; (2) the percentage of pupils held in both 
the junior and senior high schools is somewhat greater than 
under the old arrangement; (3) the percentage of boys retained 
in both schools is greater under the new form of organization. 
It is believed, too, that the number of "repeaters'' has been 
reduced. 

An ever-present consideration with school boards and super- 
intendents is the cost of maintenance. If the junior high school 
is to accomplish what its friends anticipate, it is reasonable to 
expect that the expense per capita will be about midway be- 
tween the six-grade elementary school and the three-grade 
senior high school; for, although there will be needed much 
more equipment than is found in the old elementary school, 
it need not be so elaborate or expensive as that used in the 
high school, and the salaries of teachers are likely to be about 
midway between. Some of the extra expense will be due to 
the cost of industrial training, which has always been more 
expensive. If these suppositions are correct, it will probably 
figure out that the whole school budget is larger than it was 
under the old arrangement, although Professor Hanus and others 
have estimated that it would be less. But the matter of in- 
creased cost is only an initial difficulty; if it can be clearly 
demonstrated that the junior high school is more efficient as 
an educational device, the American people will gladly support 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 163 

it, as another item in the gradual increase in the cost of educa- 
tion. But this way of figuring ignores the old waste of the 
pupil's time and energy. The most important consideration 
pertaining to this phase of the subject is that it will bring about 
a better distribution of the school funds; for, in nearly all 
school systems, there has been a disproportionate amount spent 
on the high school, notwithstanding the fact that only a small 
percentage of the children of the tax payers enter the high 
school and much fewer graduate. With the 6-3-3 plan, if 
the junior high school's share of the school budget is midway 
between the other two units of the system, the seventh and 
eighth grades (where the attendance is more nearly com- 
plete) will participate in the advantage resulting from more 
expensive equipment and higher salaried teachers. It will 
prove a natural device for pushing a portion of the school fimds 
lower down in the grades. Thus the cost argument against 
the junior high school is not very convincing. 

One of the most important administrative advantages will 
come from the possibility of better provision for the social and 
recreational activities of the pupils. Because of the more 
homogeneous school atmosphere and the social solidarity that 
results from grouping together pupils of the same stage of 
development, the extra-school activities can be better organ- 
ized and more effectively supervised. The atmosphere of the 
well-regulated high school is greatly needed in early adolescence; 
as has been shown in Part I, the social instincts and impulses 
of boys and girls at this time are developing rapidly, hence an 
opportunity must be given for their exercise, and adequate 
provision made for their direction and training. In brief, the 
junior high school can better meet the social needs of the pupils. 
As Professor E. J. Swift has expressed it, "Enlarged, sound 
mentaUty is the result of life amid broad and sound social re- 
lations." 

The critics of the junior high school have claimed that the 



l64 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

pupils will naturally lose the close personal touch of the grade 
teacher who is with them throughout the school day for a 
whole school year, and any loss of wholesome personal influence 
at this time of life is a rather serious matter. But, if a vigorous 
school spirit is developed and a wholesome social atmosphere 
created, the loss referred to will be much more than made up; 
for the pupils have now reached a stage in their social growth 
when they greatly desire to be one in spirit, and this social 
unity is a powerful influence, making for social efficiency and 
necessary to the training in loyalty that must not under any 
consideration be neglected at this time. 

IX 

A final word about buildings, equipment, and text-books. 
In many of the larger cities separate buildings are being pro- 
vided for their junior high schools; this plan, as various writers 
have pointed out, facilitates administration and organization 
and it is likely to result in better provisions being made for 
shop and laboratory work. In the smaller cities it is not gener- 
ally deemed necessary to provide a separate building. In 
many places the old high-school building is turned over to the 
new junior high school. When the senior high school has out- 
grown the old building, this is the most economical way of man- 
aging matters; and this adjustment furnishes a building well 
suited to the needs of the junior high school. A walk of at 
least a mile and a half to and from school is no disadvantage to 
boys and girls of this age; this will make it possible in most 
cities to assemble as many pupils as the ideal school of this 
type needs for administrative purposes. 

In the matter of equipment, if the boys and girls are to be 
given "practical pre vocational hints and vision of the great 
workaday world into which most of them are so soon to plunge," 
as F. M. Davenport phrases it, and if the presentation is to 
be made as concrete as has been urged in this chapter, their 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 165 

must be suitable apparatus, tools, and materials, quite differ- 
ent from that found in the ordinary elementary school. In 
some cases the initial cost of this equipment will be considerable, 
the amount depending on what phases of the new movement 
are to receive emphasis; but it is a matter next in importance 
to providing well qualified teachers if the work is to make a 
strong appeal to the pupils and the community. 

Lastly, there are probably at present only a few text-books 
well fitted to the needs of the pupils of junior-high-school age. 
But this, too, is only a temporary obstacle; text-book publishers 
very promptly began to announce new series of books for the 
junior high school with ''new and invigorating ingredients." 
This is a difficulty, however, that should be gradually overcome; 
for, if the new texts are to be really adapted to the interests 
and needs of the pupils, they must be carefully worked out 
with the children in the schoolroom and by only the better 
qualified teachers; in this matter it will be best to "make 
haste slowly." 



In this chapter the author has attempted to make clear the 
place and function, as he sees it, of this new unit of organization 
which is being rapidly developed within our educational sys- 
tem. If he has been successful, he has shown that the junior 
high school is being evolved for the purpose of trying to solve a 
long-standing and difficult problem, namely, to meet in a more 
vital manner the interests and the social and vocational demands 
of the boys and girls of early adolescence that have reached 
about the same stage of physical and mental development, 
to effect a more perfect articulation of all the parts of our edu- 
cational system, to furnish instruction and training that are 
both fundamental and practical, cultural and broadly prevo- 
cational, to carry down into the elementary grades, again using 



1 66 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

Davenport's words, ''simple and important beginnings in that 
culture of science, of history, of art, of industry, of political and 
social experience, which help to make the mind of man free and 
useful in the modern world, a culture heretofore too narrowly 
reserved for the favored few in the higher schools and colleges 
and universities," to proceed on the assumption that, at this 
stage of the pupils' development, attitudes and capacities, 
initiative and personal resources are the important considera- 
tions, and to offer to all equal opportunities by providing the 
kind of training that the varying nature and social outlook of 
each demands, albeit, the differentiation does not result in 
any sorting process or is not made an opportunity for capital to 
exploit labor. 

The fundamental ideas underlying this movement, as 
expressed by various educational leaders, seem to be (i) an 
''intimate and intensive study of the individualities of the 
pupils," (2) "continuous and uninterrupted opportunity for 
every pupil," (3) an earlier definite start for pupils intended for 
the professions and for those entering commercial and indus- 
trial callings, (4) "progressive differentiation" of subject- 
matter and methods in response to the changing personal needs 
and the demands of "our aspiring but somewhat chaotic Amer- 
ican life," and (5) a scientific rather than a traditional grouping 
of the grades. We trust that the reader does not believe that 
our eight-year elementary school, which appears to be the result 
of ill-advised borrowing from the Prussian folksschule, is an in- 
stitution fixed by the laws of nature, but that he does believe 
that the time is ripe for the working out in the interests of a more 
complete democracy of some such natural unit as is here 
described. At any rate, it is encouraging to know that many 
educational leaders have faith and are showing it by their 
works, although the results thus far are naturally somewhat 
chaotic because of lack of agreement as to aims and func- 
tions. 



TRANSITION TO THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 167 

So far as this book is concerned, the consideration of the 
junior high school and all that the movement involves is con- 
fined to this chapter. The following chapters deal with 
problems connected with the regular four-year high school, 
the kind of a school in which a great majority of high-school 
principals and teachers will continue to serve for many years 
to come. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE AMERICAN HIGH-SCHOOL GROUP 

The pupils of our high schools today form a very heteroge- 
neous group; and, because of this fact, problems arise that did 
not exist seventy-five years ago. This is especially true in the 
high schools of our large cities. It is the purpose of this brief 
chapter to describe the nature of the high-school group and 
discuss some of the problems arising therefrom. 

Until about the middle of the nineteenth century the boys 
and girls seeking a secondary education were largely from the 
families of the better classes, where English was the language 
spoken in the home, and the parents of nearly all were American 
born. A comparatively large number of the pupils who at- 
tended the early academies and high schools were preparing 
for something definite, many of them expecting to enter college 
or one of the professions; and we have learned from the studies 
of J. K. Van Denburg and others that a definite vocational 
motive acts as a favorable influence, both on the quality of the 
work done and on the length of time that the pupils remain 
in school, especially is the influence of definite expectations 
manifest in the case of those who have chosen careers requiring 
college or professional training. Thus the early high school 
and academy had a homogeneous enrolment, judged intellect- 
ually and socially, and the pupils were stimulated by the pros- 
pects of a definite and worthy calling and often by helpful fam- 
ily traditions. 

The problems of the early secondary schools were simple, 
too, because of the modest social and industrial demands made 
by the conmiunities which they served. The modern indus- 

i68 



THE AMERICAN HIGH-SCHOOL GROUP T69 

tries were in their infancy, and consequently the varied demands 
of modern society did not disturb and distract the thoughts 
of the worthy masters and pupils of those early days. The 
aims and functions of the secondary schools were not then seri- 
ously in question, because they were so simple and taken as a 
matter of course; and the modern discussions of educational 
values did not ring in the ears of the early curriculum maker. 
There was then no demand on the part of influential employers 
of labor that the high schools turn out narrowly trained workers, 
ready to become part of a great industrial machine. There 
was no opposition between the standards of the practical busi- 
ness man on the one hand and the individual and cultural de- 
mands on the other. In brief, peace and harmony prevailed 
both within and without the academic walls, consequently the 
problems were few and simple. 

Dr. L. D. Coffman of the University of Minnesota has said 
that "the growth and improvement of the high school repre- 
sents the most significant movement in American education in 
the last fifty years; " and, when we realize that this remarkable 
growth has resulted in this country having enrolled in its high 
schools a larger per cent of youths than any other country and a 
larger number of pupils than the rest of the world combined, 
we no longer expect to find in these schools a select group; for 
we know that the pupils must come from every economic and 
social stratum of the people; and the data that have already 
been collected fully support this inference. Van Denburg's 
studies of the schools of New York City indicate the utmost 
variety in the enrolment, as to race, social standing, and in- 
dustrial station; and it is probable that a similar study of some 
of our other large cities would reveal a somewhat like condition; 
hence a few of Van Denburg's findings are here reported, as 
throwing light on the way the great influx of mixed pupils has 
tended to complicate the problems of the curriculum and of 
organization and management. 



170 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

It was found that nearly every race in the city is sending 
pupils to the high schools. Of the twenty-three races repres- 
ented, the Hebrews are sending more in proportion to their 
numbers than any of the others, the boys outnumbering the 
girls five to four. In point of numbers the pupils from the 
American homes rank second; from these homes the girls ex- 
ceed the boys almost two to one. There can be no doubt that 
there is represented in this great racial mixture a correspond- 
ing variety of standards and ideals as to habits, conduct, and 
culture, and that the problem of unifying this cosmopolitan 
mass is consequently more difficult. 

Van Denburg attempted to determine the economic status 
of the pupils from the rents paid for the homes and the occu- 
pations of the fathers. As might be expected, the extremes are 
very great; the lower extreme is surprisingly low, showing the 
extent to which the poorer classes appreciate the advantages 
of a high-school education, and the hold the American high 
school has gained on the imagination of the people. More than 
fifty per cent of the pupils came from homes that cost from ten 
to twenty dollars per month rental. This statement is signifi- 
cant to any one familiar with conditions and standards in New 
York City; it indicates that the standard of living in these 
homes is very low and that the parents are making a real sacri- 
fice in order to send their children to high school. In propor- 
tion to the population, the city and federal employees contrib- 
ute the largest number of pupils; but nearly half of the entire 
enrolment is made up of children of fathers classed as artisan- 
contractors, manufacturers, and tradesmen. A study of three 
cities in Iowa by Professor Irving King formerly of the State 
University shows a somewhat similar social distribution of the 
high-school pupils, judged by their father's occupations, the 
most interesting difference being that the professional classes 
in Iowa are patronizing the public high schools better than the 
same classes in New York City. 



THE AMERICAN fflGH-SCHOOL GROUP 1 71 

When the modern high-school group is questioned as to 
vocational expectations, the variety of occupations named by 
the pupils indicates a breadth of outlook full of significance for 
those responsible for the solution of high-school problems. 
In New York forty different callings are mentioned by the boys 
and twenty-one by the girls; a study of eleven hundred and 
nine pupils in three Iowa high schools shows an even greater 
range of occupations in the minds of the pupils. The wide 
vocational and social outlook revealed by the Van Denburg 
and King studies of the two localities, differing so much in 
character and so widely separated, points definitely to a curric- 
ulum problem, which will be discussed in the next chapter. 
This problem in its most modern phase is largely the result of 
the marvelous growth of the high schools since 1890, the in- 
crease from 1892 to 192 1 being over 356 per cent; and there has 
been a parallel increase in the number and intricacy of the 
vocational demands. 

But, according to the data submitted by Van Denburg, there 
is a more urgent high-school problem than the one growing out 
of the extremes indicated by the social status and the vocational 
preferences of the pupils, and that is the problem connected with 
the education of that portion of the high-school group which 
enters without any vocational expectations; it was found that 
these pupils do poorer work while in school and that they are 
much more likely to leave soon after entering. The problem 
originating from this portion of the high school is more urgent 
and much more difl&cult, for this gives rise to a general educa- 
tional problem; whereas the extremes in social and vocational 
demands set a specific problem, and a problem that is now being 
attacked with much vigor in nearly all parts of the country. 

There is another way in which the high-school pupils of the 
present vary greatly (although in early times the variation was 
even greater) and that is in their age of entering. For prac- 
tical purposes it may be understood that the entering age 



172 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

varies from twelve to seventeen, the medium being fourteen and 
nine-tenths in Iowa and fourteen and five-tenths in New York. 
A difference of five or more years in the age of the pupils creates 
problems of its own: the intellectual interests and the social 
instincts, as we have seen, are changing so rapidly at this time 
that comparatively small differences in age produce marked 
changes in the nature of the boy and girl ; and the consequent 
variation in maturity tends to complicate the work of the high 
school. For this problem various solutions have been tried 
in the larger high schools, the most successful being the classi- 
fication of pupils according to physiological, rather than chron- 
ological, age in part or all of their studies. Van Denburg 
reaches the conclusion that, "as far as age is concerned, thir- 
teen is the ideal age for high-school entrance;" he bases this 
conclusion on the percentage of pupils of different entering 
ages that remain in high school till graduation. 

The heterogeneous character of the high-school group al- 
ready described suggests other differences, not so important, 
perhaps, from the standpoint of high-school management and 
method. We should expect to find represented in the large 
high schools of the country every possible religion (including 
non-religion) and every possible degree of general intelligence 
and culture. Fortunately religious differences no longer con- 
stitute a problem, unless it be in a few isolated cases where 
reading the Bible in the schools has made trouble. But all 
high-school teachers are continually made aware of the bearing 
of general intelligence, educational background, and culture 
upon the daily work of the pupil in nearly all subjects; the 
differences thus arising color all the efforts of the pupils and 
give to their work a different perspective in spite of the most 
skilful teaching; these are all very potent factors in the edu- 
cative process, and they give rise to real teaching problems. 

The foregoing paragraphs have attempted to show the ex- 
tremely varied character of the modern high-school group, due 



THE AMERICAN HIGH-SCHOOL GROUP 173 

to social, economic, vocational, age, and cultural differences, 
with a view to making clear the lack of unity that naturally 
grows out of these differences. When we add the differences 
due to the causes and conditions just discussed to the extreme 
individual variations that we discovered in our study of adoles- 
cent nature (where abundance of life seems the only common 
characteristic), we realize more fully the scope and the inherent 
difficulties involved in high-school teaching, organization, and 
management. 

Not only do these individual differences in the high-school 
group effect the problems of the curriculum, the organization, 
and methods of teaching, but they make it more difficult to 
maintain the principles and spirit of democracy, so necessary 
to the welfare of the pupils and the school. In the remaining 
chapters an effort is made to propose some of the means of 
solving the problems and overcoming the difficulties here out- 
lined; but a few suggestions are here inserted concerning three 
ways that have been used with varying success in many high 
schools. The heterogeneous nature of the high-school group 
would seem to suggest that the problems involved fall into 
two classes: one, the meeting of the individual needs, which 
we have found so divergent; and the other, the harmonizing 
and bringing about within the group intellectual and social 
unity. The suggestions that follow pertain to the discovery 
and meeting of individual interests and needs; the other class 
of problems will be treated later. 

I. Some kind of an advisory system is one of the most com- 
mon devices for reaching the individual pupils in a large high 
school. In our study of adolescence we found that the friend- 
ship and sympathy of some adult with sense and judgment 
are greatly needed by both boys and girls in their teens; and 
the writer knows from the testimony of many high-school grad- 
uates how much the kindly interest and advice of teachers in 
whom the human element loomed large were appreciated, 



I74 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

and how much credit for success in school is awarded to such 
teachers. On entering a large high school many pupils find 
themselves swamped by the many new things and strange people 
that surround them; and, instead of being in a condition to 
think correctly and act wisely, when so much depends upon being 
able to do so, they are bewildered and embarrassed, and it is not 
surprising that they either fail or become discouraged. Thus 
there is no doubt that many pupils, especially during the first 
year in a large high school, very much need the personal atten- 
tion of at least one teacher who is able quickly to establish a 
helpful relationship. This teacher must readily learn the pu- 
pil's nature and make him feel that he may come for advice 
whenever it is needed; the advice may be about books that are 
difficult to read and understand, the workings of some part of 
the school machinery (so often a mystery at first), the way to 
obtain membership in some pupil organization, or some purely 
personal matter. An advisory system is a scheme to restore 
the personal element that was lost when the small high school 
became large. If the school numbers about one hundred, there 
can be an advisor for each of the four classes. Experience 
has shown that it is not well to assign more than twenty or 
thirty pupils to a teacher if the work is to be done effectively; 
and that it is very pleasant and profitable for the same teacher 
to remain with the same group of pupils throughout their four 
years; the relationships often become close and the resulting 
friendships lasting. The successful teachers in this line of 
effort must have tact, judgment, a knowledge of adolescent 
nature, and a broad outlook on life. It is the personal element, 
the friendly acquaintance and interest, he sympathetic under- 
standing that count and are more important than the helpful 
advice given. The author feels strongly that, in order to be 
most effective, the whole arrangement must be as informal and 
unofficial as possible, otherwise the advice may seem to be 
something that the taxpayers pay for, like the apparatus and 



THE AMERICAN HIGH-SCHOOL GROUP 175 

the teaching, and hence lacking the human touch and the ele- 
ment of spontaneity. 

2 . Another plan for establishing personal contact between the 
pupil and the teacher is an arrangement for conference hours; 
this is an effort to aid the pupils more directly in their school 
work, making possible the clearing up of lesson difficulties or 
the making up of work that has been missed. Some high 
schools have arranged for an hour a week in certain studies to 
be given over to informal discussions and helping with the work. 
It has been the author's observation that, when the right amount 
of work is expected of teachers and they are earnest and enthus- 
iastic about their subjects and their pupils, it usually comes 
about that the necessary conferences are arranged without 
any general school regulation; like the advisory system just 
discussed, the conferences that result from the teacher's atti- 
tude and initiative are likely to be most appreciated and prove 
most helpful. 

3. A still more formal way of rendering individual assistance 
to the pupils needing it is what has come to be known as super- 
vised study. There have been very many and very encourag- 
ing reports concerning the successes of this plan. This scheme 
usually involves the lengthening of the school day for both 
pupils and teachers; in some cases this feature of the plan is 
highly desirable. Although something like supervised study 
is doubtless needed by the less mature pupils, it would seem 
that, like other similar devices for lessening personal responsibil- 
ity and effort, it might easily be overdone, or in the hands of 
an uns)anpathetic teacher become very formal and perfunctory. 
The pupils must be given a chance to do solitary studying and 
they must be held responsible for the results of this independ- 
ent work, otherwise one of the best elements in their school life 
will be lost. It is very important, however, that the pupils 
be given instruction in the art of studying; to learn how to 
study is really one of the best reasons for attending school. 



176 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

We all know that the most necessary element in learning how 
to study is individual effort, the effort that tempers the will 
and develops the power of concentration; however, experience 
has proved that some help can be given by specific instruction 
concerning many points in the art of study, and high-school 
pupils are certainly entitled to all the help that can be given 
in this form. Two or three excellent small books on the most 
effective habits of study have recently been published. 

In concluding this chapter on the nature of the American 
high-school group of today, it would seem well to remind the 
reader that this great variety of personalities, abilities, social 
standing, culture, and ideals furnishes the very best means for 
training almost any individual for social efficiency in a democ- 
racy. Hence the very conditions which make the successful 
organization and management of a large modern high school 
so difficult are the ideal conditions in which to build strong 
character and train for citzenship. In the public high school, 
composed as it is of representatives of every element of the 
community, the pupil finds life as nearly as possible like the 
life outside of the school, the life which he will soon have to 
live. It cannot be proved, but many are fully convinced that 
no select group, no matter on what basis the group is formed, 
provides the stimulating conditions foimd in the public high 
school; here we have a miniature world with all its strange 
and discordant elements, and adolescence is the time to lean 
how to deal with these elements, because at no other time are 
the human sympathies so broad and the necessary social ad- 
justments so easily made. 



CHAPTER X 
THE CURRICULUM 



The building of a high-school curriculum is a problem worthy 
the best efforts of any educator; it is a task that tests his peda- 
gogical knowledge and his ability to think broadly and scientifi- 
cally in the whole field of education. For several years the 
secondary school has been the storm center of educational 
discussion and criticism; and it has been upon the curriculum 
that the tempest has broken with much violence. The remark- 
able period of upheaval that we are passing through contrasts 
strikingly with the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 
when standards and values in matters educational were rela- 
tively settled, and the critics (whom we fortunately have al- 
ways with us) were not, as now, questioning the standards and 
principles that had guided educational thinking for many 
generations. The famous report of the Committee of Ten 
assured us that a curriculum made up of high-school subjects 
that best fitted pupils to enter a classical college, the college 
authorities being the judges, furnishes the best possible educa- 
tion for the boys and girls who do not go to college, and this 
regardless of what occupations they may follow. This assur- 
ance came from the highest authorities of the land, it was based 
on the best thinking of that period, and nearly everybody felt 
at ease in Zion; for, is it not pleasant to have important matters 
settled authoritatively and be allowed to go on with one's 
work undisturbed by doubts and misgivings? Not so with 
the first quarter of the twentieth century; the fundamentals 
and values which have been trusted for centuries are now being 

177 



178 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

examined, and it is only the ultra conservatives who care much 
about what happens to these time-honored landmarks; nearly- 
all are now in a mood to accept the findings of the venturesome 
educational experts, who are so ruthlessly testing all things. 
But in the meantime the curriculum maker is sorely perplexed; 
the fixed stars by which he was wont to sail with some degree 
of security are no longer fixed; and he must find his way by 
means of Ughts and bouys that are still shifting. To build a 
closely-knit, purposefully-constructed high-school curriculum of 
the most approved materials is to solve a most difficult and 
vital high-school problem. 

As the last statement implies, this chapter will attempt to 
discuss only one type of curriculum making. It is assumed that 
the reader is not interested in that method of curriculum plan- 
ning which Dr. C. H. Johnston once described as "clerical and 
manipulative," resulting in a curriculum on paper, made by a 
principal or superintendent with a sheet of paper before him 
neatly ruled with columns of oblong spaces into which he writes 
high-school subjects, selected from his program of studies with 
an eye to administrative convenience. Such checker-board 
curriculums often look well when printed in the annual catalog 
of the school; and the various labels placed at the top, such as 
''classical," "scientific," "college preparatory," "prevoca- 
tional," and the like, serve as an advertisement and make the 
patrons think that their school is up-to-date and broad in its 
scope, reaching all classes of pupils. It is hoped that the follow- 
ing discussion will be at least suggestive to those who would build 
a real curriculum, genuinely "discriminating and educational," 
and showing "evidence of design in its construction." Success 
in this undertaking must be based on what Dr. Johnston has 
called "curriculum thinking;" and this kind of thinking im- 
plies a scientific attitude and a broad educational outlook. 

The present-day curriculum maker must have the scientific 
attitude, because this is a time when the results which he will 



THE CURRICULUM 179 

obtain, if he follows the best thinking of his day, will differ 
very strikingly from those formerly accepted; that is, he must 
have the skill and the courage to follow the light wherever it 
may lead. He will be influenced only by the testing, experi- 
menting, and thinking that are being done and not at all by 
tradition. Again, his outlook must be broad, for the changing 
curriculum is but a part of a great, world-wide movement. The 
outstanding characteristic of this age is continuous and rapid 
changes in standards, methods, and values, exemplified in the 
sciences, in statecraft, in military affairs, in agriculture, in 
the various industries, and in religion; in our thinking and in 
our practice we are embodying the Heraclitan doctrine of eternal 
flux. 

No one who reads the educational literature of the day or 
listens to the bold discussion at any educational gathering 
doubts that we are in the midst of the greatest and most signifi- 
cant educational troubling of the waters that has occurred 
since the Renaissance; and this upheaval is manifested most 
definitely and concretely in the changes and the proposed 
changes in the curriculums of our secondary schools. The 
changes are not indicated merely by the offering of abso- 
lutely new subjects and the introduction of new material in 
the old subjects, but by the shifting of the interests and ideals 
of the pupils, made evident by the way in which they elect 
their courses; a glance at a graph showing the percentage of 
pupils enrolled throughout the United States in the various 
subjects old and new from 1900 to 191 5 proves conclusively 
that something unusual and worthy of note has been happen- 
ing during these fifteen years and especially during the last five 
years. Relatively the study of algebra, geometry, latin, phys- 
ical geography, botany, zoology, and physiology has been 
falling off, in the case of some of these studies, very rapidly 
during the last five of the fifteen years; and the same graph 
shows a marvelous increase in the percentage of pupils studying 



l8o HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

domestic economy, agriculture, general science, and modern 
languages. Is this shifting of the pupils' efforts due to a mere 
caprice and a liking for the newer studies, or is it due to a deep- 
seated conviction on the part of the pupils and parents that 
the time-honored subjects do not contain all that is vital, all 
that will best prepare them for "complete living," as Herbert 
Spencer long ago phrased it? The present chapter includes 
an attempt to answer this question. If we trust the signs of 
the times, the changes just noted may be taken as only a fore- 
cast of other changes as great and it would seem further-reach- 
ing in their effects that will soon be upon us. 

All that has been said thus far suggests that there can be no 
such thing as an ideal curriculum, and, least of all, a general 
or t3^e curriculum suited to the needs of all the different com- 
munities supporting high schools, schools with their student 
bodies as varied as was indicated in the last chapter. It would 
appear, also, from the preceding paragraphs that a curriculum 
cannot be expected, even from the combined wisdom of all the 
educational experts, that will satisfy the needs of any com- 
munity for a very long period of time; this would imply social 
and industrial stagnation. But, besides the general social 
changes continually going on that must affect the curriculum, 
there are gradual modifications being wrought in the content of 
many of the subjects themselves, and, as we have seen, changes 
in the character of the pupils who attend the high schools. 
All of these changes must be continually reflected in the scientifi- 
cally constructed curriculum. However, the actual modifica- 
tion of the high-school curriculum is likely to come about rather 
slowly; at least we are painfully aware that in the past schools 
have been extremely conservative and have lagged behind the 
social and economic development of their communities; school 
officials, it would appear, have not generally been very sensitive 
to the transformations going on in the world about them. 



THE CURRICULUM l8l 

II 
This suggests that it may be profitable to focus attention 
briefly on the qualifications requisite for the one who would 
undertake the professional task of planning a curriculum for a 
particular community. ' 

1. The first and, from the standpoint of this book, most 
important qualification is a sympathetic knowledge of adoles- 
cent nature. This of course is an important prerequisite 
for every phase of secondary education, a qualification which 
no other wisdom or natural gift can replace. He who would 
select the educational pabulum for boys and girls from twelve 
to eighteen years of age must know their interests and needs, 
otherwise there will be malnutrition and stunted growth; and 

^the needs of any organism are logically determined by the nature 
of that organism. 

2. In the first chapter it was stated that there are two ways 
of determining matters pertaining to method and to the content 
of the curriculum; namely, by the nature of the educand and 
by the social outlook of the educand. Just now much stress 
is being placed on the latter; hence the next qualification de- 
manded of the principal or superintendent as a curriculiun 
maker is a thorough and first hand knowledge of the interests 
and needs of his community. If this is lacking, or if it is not 
reflected in his curriculum, any changes that he introduces are 
likely to be looked upon as passing fads or arbitrary inventions 
on his part; consequently he may fail to secure the cooperation 
of the people concerned. But there is a more important and 
deeper reason for requiring a knowledge of the community, 
and fhat is, the nature of the community or its social status 
determines in a majority of cases the social and industrial 
destinies of the pupils. The writer is fully aware that this 
is a dangerous and disputed doctrine. It is easily apparent 
that, if the ideals and industrial status of the community 
were thoroughly to dominate, the result might be the 



l82 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

narrowest and most provincial sort of a curriculum, quali- 
ties most undesirable, against which the new education pro- 
poses to wage unrelenting warfare; provincialism must be 
uprooted in the interests of a safe democracy. The discussion 
of this point will be resumed later. It would seem reasonable 
that any one who proposes important curriculum changes 
ought to have lived in his community for at least a year; with- 
out the close knowledge that comes from residence, serious 
mistakes are liable to be made. As an essential part of a knowl- 
edge of local conditions and needs, there should be perfect 
familiarity with the previous curriculums of the school and 
the way they have worked; from this source much light may 
often be thrown on the problem of the new curriculum; or- 
dinary tact and common-sense dictate that the past cannot be 
entirely ignored, for all established things have some reason foi* 
being and they have friends who believe in their use. 

3. The third qualification to be mentioned is a knowledge of 
the trend of educational thought in general and familiarity 
with the history of the high-school curriculum in particular. 
The reasons for insisting on this qualification are too obvious 
to need stating. It is only this kind of knowledge that gives 
educational perspective, an absolute requirement for curric- 
ulum thinking and one of the safeguards against serious ped- 
agogical blundering. 

4. The next qualification is more general and makes a higher 
demand, but is essential to the highest and most original curric- 
ulum thinking and planning; it calls for an appreciative un- 
derstanding of the best thought of the age, a knowledge of 
"the general march of events," a consciousness of the spirit 
of the age. Without this qualification on the part of our curric- 
ulum makers, education will of necessity become an isolated 
affair, cut off from all vital connection with the world, which 
it is supposed to serve. As Dewey insists, "the modification 
going on in our method and curriculum of education is as much 



THE CURRICULUM 183 

a product of the changed social situation, and as much an effort 
to meet the needs of the new society that is forming, as are 
changes in modes of industry and commerce." Education is 
"part and parcel of the whole social evolution," and this funda- 
mental fact must always be reflected in the changing curric- 
ulum; hence, the high demand on him who would essay the 
task under discussion. 

5. No one can act wisely and safely for his school in planning 
its curriculum unless he is fully informed concerning the finan- 
cial means at its disposal. This will determine somewhat 
definitely the number and nature of the courses that can be 
included in the program of studies: limited available funds 
necessarily limit the number of subjects that can be taught 
Successfully; and limited funds restrain the introduction of 
courses requiring expensive equipment, effecting especially some 
of the newer subjects that require laboratory methods for their 
effective handling. This practical knowledge respecting avail- 
able funds can usually be obtained with little trouble. 

Ill 

The careful student of secondary education that undertakes 
to construct a curriculum naturally hopes to be guided in his 
difficult task by the purpose, scope, and function of the high 
school, as conceived by the highest authorities of his day; but 
here he is confused and perplexed by the most diverse views 
and doctrines concerning all these. This disturbing diversity 
of opinion is readily explained: it grows out of the past history 
of the high school and the new demands by which the present 
school has been almost swamped. Secondary education has 
meant different things in different countries and to different 
ages; and this in turn is explained by the many divergencies 
in social life, to which the school has generally ministered as 
it has understood the demands of this life. Thus it is 
that we have in the high school of the present a conglomerate 



l84 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

of the various and frequently divergent ideas and practices of 
the past. Each step in the development of the high school 
has given rise to its problems, which have not always been wisely 
and completely solved, and these are included in the present 
complex situation. However, although nearly all the factors 
of the past are present and more or less operative, educational 
tradition in the form of oft-repeated dogma is fast losing its 
hold in theory and occasionally in practice; and this, too, is 
disturbing to some. Again, the urgent demand for universal 
secondary education has radically modified the purpose, scope, 
and function of the schools; the high school or academy that 
met the needs of the youths from the well-to-do, intellectual 
families and aided in preparing them for college or for a pro- 
fessional education could not be expected to measure up toj 
the varying demands of the present, to state the case in the 
extreme. This is truly a transitional period, and the profound 
changes incident are exceedingly disconcerting. 

Not only must the high schools of today appeal to the in- 
terests and meet the needs of their greatly increased and varied 
constituency, but they have assumed much added responsibil- 
ity in the matter of social training, moral development, and 
physical efficiency, an enhanced responsibility due to changed 
scope and function. During the past fifty years, social, in- 
dustrial, and economic arrangements and conditions have be- 
come extremely complex, consequently the needs of society 
have become extremely varied and exacting; and the schools 
are trying in many places to respond to new and difficult de- 
mands. 

Thus the strangely mixed elements that have come down 
from the past, the greatly increased number of pupils with their 
immensely varied interests, needs, and abilities, and the com- 
plexity of modern methods and conditions have all contributed 
to the difficulty of determining the purpose, scope, and func- 
tion of the American high school. Of one thing we are certain, 



THE CURRICULUM 185 

these can no longer be stated in terms of any single factor or 
force; and, because the purpose, scope, and function cannot 
be readily formulated, it is difficult to reach any feeling of se- 
curity in building a high-school curriculum; hence the curric- 
ulum must continue to be a battleground. 

IV 

When a difficult piece of work is before one, it is the part of 
wisdom to analyze all the significant phenomena connected 
therewith. The first and most fruitful step to take in trying 
to understand any movement or change is to seek out the causes; 
this naturally aids in discovering the direction the movement is 
taking and the probable goal it will reach. Professor George 
H. Betts of Cornell College, Iowa, has adequately stated and 
discussed the causes. "As I understand the great underlying 
forces back of our changing curriculum, they are three in num- 
ber: (i) The reaction from the disciplinary concept of educa- 
tion; (2) the pressure for new material seeking a place in the 
curriculum; and (3) the change from an individualistic and 
aristocratic to a social and democratic concept of education." 

Professor Betts insists that "the disciplinary concept of edu- 
cation has broken down," an opinion to which nearly all the 
students of recent educational thought will readily assent; 
'it is true many of the supposed disciplinary subjects still re- 
main in our curriculums, but educators are trying to find other 
reasons for their retention. While James, Dewey, Thorndike, 
Bagley, Judd, and the rest were discussing the question pro 
and con and learnedly analyzing the results of the many tests 
and experiments that were in progress with a view to arriving 
at the truth in the matter, the pupils, parents, and teachers 
settled the case for themselves. "They have decreed that the 
theories devised by John Locke and his followers two centuries 
and more ago shall give way to points of view more in accord 
with modern ideals and demands." Professor Betts shows 



l86 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

that the public has spoken decisively in the matter by citing 
the disappearance of Greek from the curriculum of nearly all 
high schools, the rapid falling off in Latin (fifty-one to thirty- 
seven and a half per cent in fifteen years), the tendency to omit 
third semester algebra and solid geometry, and the modified 
college entrance requirements, — all changes due to a waning 
faith in the doctrine of formal discipline. This argument con- 
cerning the matter, which was made in December, 1916, now 
sounds a little out of date and seems almost unnecessary, so 
rapidly has the movement he discussed developed. 

The second force mentioned by Professor Betts that tends 
to hasten the evolution that is transforming the high-school 
curriculum, "the pressure of new material," is by no means 
new, as the history of the high-school curriculum makes clear. 
For a century at least new subjects have been seeking a place; 
and as time has passed the enriching process 'has grown apace. 
At first the classics and mathematics furnished the bulk of ma- 
terial deemed necessary to prepare the pupils for the denomina- 
tional colleges of early days; then the other subjects, which 
are now pretty thorouglily established, came in the following 
order, — (i) history and literature, (2) modern languages, (3) 
the sciences, first as text-book, afterwards as laboratory sub- 
jects, (4) manual training, domestic science and art, and com- 
mercial branches, (5) agriculture. The last two groups have 
taken their places very rapidly, due to their vocational appeal. 
The great wealth of material which has found its way into the 
program of studies has given rise to th€ problem of selecting 
that which is best suited to the needs of the individual pupils, 
and, in some cases, the problem of attempting to choose what 
seems best suited to the needs of the community. 

The third force operating on the high-school curriculum, 
according to Professor Betts, is nothing less than an entirely 
new concept of education, naturally giving rise to a new defini- 
tion of education; hence this is more fundamental than the 



THE CURRICULUM 187 

other two forces and really includes the others. The new defi- 
nition of education has its origin in a deeper and broader un- 
derstanding of democracy and has for its objective the demand 
for eflSciency, which asks "that every person shall be equipped 
to render the fullest service to society, whatever his status or 
occupation." This social definition of education, which is 
gradually being formulated, as much by practice as through 
discussion and theorizing, is the great motor factor in our 
changing curriculum. 

In general it may be said that these forces which cause the 
changes are being brought to bear on the curriculum makers 
through social pressure exerted by the pupils, their parents, 
and the thoughtful and progressive people of the community. 
The pupils wish and seek a direct attack on life and its prob- 
lems: hence they are not eager to learn a dead language in 
order to get indirect aid in mastering their mother- tongue; 
hence they are impatient when asked to learn of a primitive 
civilization which furnishes some of the elements of the civiliza- 
tion by which they are surrounded and which can be had at 
first hand; hence they rebel against studying the records of 
the ancient peoples of the earth in order that they may better 
judge the present by the past when they are surrounded by 
more experiments in every line of human thought and action 
than they are able to follow, and they much prefer immediate 
experience. Moreover, the young people of the present gener- 
ation often feel much confidence in their own judgment as to 
what knowledge and skill will best function in their fives. In 
all this the parents are usually behind them, and their influence 
is fdt becanse they pay the bills. The progressive members of 
any community, with or without children, axe Hkely to be in- 
fluenced only slightly by educational tradition and carefully 
worked-out theories; their thinking is naturally stimulated 
and directed largely by the world in which they live and work, 
a world where the method of direct approach and efficiency, 



l88 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

as shown by actual results, prevails; and such members of a 
community usually find means of making their influence felt 
in matters which interest them. Thus the curriculum changes, 
and these are some of the causes which make it change. 

After causes come results; and here, as elsewhere, we are 
naturally more concerned about what is going to happen than 
about what brought it to pass. The important and practical 
questions are, whither is all this disturbance of our educational 
equilibrium and the consequent readjustments tending? and, 
more important but much more difficult, will a point of vantage 
be finally reached when the drive has spent its force? Many 
of our educational experts are willing to point out and discuss 
the present trend of this rapid evolution, but he who would 
predict the end is, indeed, a man of courage or of reckless temer- 
ity. However, those who are charged with the responsibility 
of high-school curriculums cannot await the passing of the edu- 
cational storm; they must read the signs as best they can and 
act, as in military matters, according to the latest reliable in- 
formation. By so doing, we trust they will better serve their 
own communities and at the same time make a contribution 
in the form of real experience toward the solution of a most 
vital problem; it is a case where they do not serve "who only 
stand and wait." It is hoped that the remainder of the chapter, 
although not claiming much originality, will be constructively 
helpful to readers interested in the curriculum of the secondary 
school. 

V 

There are a few general principles, which seem to be funda- 
mental, that have emerged from past discussion and experience. 
Whether these are held as imperative or not, they ought to be 
kept in mind; we cannot afford to break entirely with the past. 
Like all general principles, they are perhaps too general when 
concisely stated to have great direct practical value as aids to- 
ward decisions in concrete situations; if sound pedagogically, 



THE CURRICULUM 189 

they supply only a safe major premise, and it is always concern- 
ing the minor premise that a reliable judgment of someone is 
needed. The author is fully aware that the following state- 
ments are both incomplete and open to criticism. 

1. "Equal opportunity for all" has ever been the fimda- 
mental concept of democracy; but this does not mean, in our 
problem, the same curriculum for all. In its practical work- 
ings nothing could be more undemocratic than to insist that 
all pupils pursue the same studies regardless of their needs and 
interests. It is a long-recognized principle in economics, that 
there is nothing less fair than the equal treatment of unequals. 
For both psychological and social reasons the principle holds 
in education. In Part I of this book much emphasis was placed 
on the fact that adolescents differ strikingly in their interests, 
tastes, and capacities; and the last chapter showed the ex- 
treme differences that actually exist in the social outlook of 
the various natural groups of high-school pupils. An earnest 
effort to recognize and meet in a practical way individual differ- 
ences in interests and social needs gave rise to the elective sys- 
tem, first in colleges and afterwards in high schools. But this 
system in its extreme and unrestricted form seems to be a thing 
of the past in both higher and secondary education; the aim, 
it is believed, has been reached in safer and more scientific ways, 
as will appear later. However, the principle prevails that an 
equal opportunity for all demands a recognition of individual 
differences and a chance for individual choice of some kind. 

2. The next principle in curriculum making is closely connec- 
ted with the first and emphasizes one of the reasons for the first. 
In selecting and arranging the program of studies, the vastness 
and complexity of modern industrial and social organization 
must be duly recognized. The aim of this principle is "social 
efficiency," which, according to Dr. Bagley, should control 
the curriculum. The introduction of this principle into our 
curriculum planning has resulted in the establishment of our 



igo HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

numerous "vocational" and "industrial" courses, from which 
much is expected, especially by the patrons of the high schools; 
and there can be little doubt that these so-called practical sub- 
jects have come to stay. An investigation reported a few 
years ago by the late Dr. C. H. Johnston and covering "fifty- 
four high schools in towns of over 4000 population, representing 
practically every state in the union," showed that out of a 
total of ninety-three subjects offered by these schools fifty of 
them were vocational. If these schools were studied now, it 
is probable that a relatively larger number of vocational sub- 
jects would be found in their program of studies; for the "era 
of curriculum experimentation" has been pronounced, and 
there has been a strong vocational trend since this report was 
made. At any rate, the principle is so thoroughly established 
that such a thing as a high-school curriculum that completely 
ignores industrial and social demands in now practically in- 
conceivable. It is difficult to imagine a principal or superin- 
tendent who has so entirely escaped the influence of his social 
and educational environment as to be able to think such a curric- 
ulum; there is no such thing as a real curriculum suspended 
in mid air. Another way of stating this principle is that the 
subjects offered by our high schools must be of such a charac- 
ter that they will function in the social life of the pupils after 
they leave school, using social in its broadest sense. This 
means very different curriculums for different individuals; 
for endless in variety are the callings that are awaiting them. 
Stating it this way makes it appear like an over-ambitious aim 
on the part of the schools, yet such are the modern demands 
as embodied in this principle of curriculum making. 

3. Another recognized principle involves the same idea 
viewed from the standpoint of individual development. These 
are some of the forms of statement: (the program of studies 
shall be broad enough to open up many opportunities;"' the 
high school shall be a place for testing and developing all kinds 



THE CXTRRICULUM 191 

of capacities and tastes; it shall not be possible that any talent 
may perish by default; the school shall render aid in the im- 
portant work of self-discovery; speaking figuratively, the curric- 
ulum shall ring many rising-bells, some one of which will 
sound in the soul of every boy and girl. When thus formulated, 
this guiding principle sounds rather ideal and visionary; but 
no lower aim will harmonize with the modern social definition 
of education, which insists that the individual be so instructed 
and trained that he will render to society the most fruitful ser- 
vice of which he is by nature capable. This definition brings 
together the principle under discussion and the one preceding, 
and it emphasizes the doctrine that the individual can render 
his greatest service to society only when his natural talents 
have been discovered and fully developed. 

The two foregoing principles, one demanding that high- 
school studies function in the social life of the pupU and the 
other that they function in his individual life, have given rise 
"Ito a classification of high-school subjects as practical and cul- 
tural, or utilitarian and disciplinary; and the arguments de- 
fending the one or the other have during the past few years 
been many and vigorously shouted abroad, and the echoes 
have not entirely died away. But a higher philosophy of cur- 
riculum making prevails, which reconciles these two seemingly 
antagonistic parties by harmonizing their discordant views. 
This bringing together of the two divergent concepts of edu- 
cation has been accomphshed by a redefining of the terms "cul- 
ture" and "utility." The traditional idea of culture implies 
considerable familiarity with history and art, "the best that 
the world has known and said," according to Arnold, especially 
a knowledge of literature, including usually one at least of the 
ancient classical literatures; that is, culture has been synon- 
ymous with the possession of certain approved forms of knowl- 
edge, the emphasis being placed on the results of intellectual" 
activity. Bagley feels that the term has been associated in 



192 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

many minds with luxury and freedom from economic cares and 
responsibilities. At all events, culture has been a changing 
ideal, each age evolving its own conception of the term; hence 
our modern students of education who apply new standards of 
"culture" do no violence to the English language. Because a 
word has been subject to changes in meaning, it is not neces- 
sarily equivocal. Culture is still a good word to conjure with, 
but it is proposed to apply to it a new measure, one that is 
likely to be insisted upon more and more as the ideal of social 
efficiency and service obtains; it is to be some kind of a prag- 
matic test. The world in general, as well as a certain modern 
school of philosophers, is more inclined to measure all things 
by the way they work; appl3dng this test to the matter under 
consideration, the degree of culture is determined, not by the 
amount or kind of knowledge, but by the ejffect produced on 
the life of the individual who has acquired the knowledge; 
culture should mean, not having, but being, and "by their fruits 
ye shall know them." This kind of culture, for one, may come 
from an appreciative reading of the classics; for another, it may 
come from an enthusiastic devotion to agriculture and all its 
allied sciences. Culture is an effect which may arise from count- 
less different causes; but it in turn becomes a cause when em- 
bodied, and this embodied cause Dr. Bagley calls social efficiency. 
UtUity, too, has taken on a new meaning, which is much broader 
than the old notion, that the useful in education is that which 
aids one in earning a living. Utility, like culture, must be 
judged by its far-reaching effects; the degree of utility must be 
determined, not alone by the dollars and cents earned, but 
by the use that is made of these; that is, by the amount of 
human satisfaction that results in the long run. Thus culture 
and utility are both measured by the legitimate human wants, 
both existence and cultural, that they aid in satisfying. 

4. The next principle in curriculum making emanates from 
an idea that has developed concerning what makes for efficiency; 



THE CURRICULUM 193 

it may be stated in various ways. It is often known as "the 
principle of continuity of work," and implies the planning of 
the curriculum so that every pupil must on graduation know at 
least one subject well. The defences of this doctrine are too 
numerous and have been too often stated to need repetition 
here. The belief that an attempt to master one field of knowl- 
edge makes for efficiency has worked out in the high-school 
curriculum in the form of three- or four-year ''majors," which 
provide coherence in subject-matter. These majors will be 
discussed later. There is now pretty thorough agreement, that 
persistance in one line of effort for a number of years is a gen- 
uinely educative process, as distinguished from mere getting of 
information, that the effect on the developing mental powers 
is accumulative, that it aids in establishing ideals and habits 
of thoroughness, which Bagley has proved may carry over into 
other fields of effort, and that it guards against forming the 
vicious habit of always picking and choosing. Perhaps the 
strongest reason for observing the principle which demands 
some prolonged and sustained effort on the part of the pupil 
is the fact that the elements in American life are now so numer- 
ous and varied, as compared with early days, and consequently 
so distracting, that some stabilizing influence is greatly needed 
to counteract the natural tendency to assume the touch-and- 
go attitude toward Ufe and its occupations. It is now gener- 
ally held that the Committee of Ten overemphasized the doc- 
trine of the intensive treatment of a few subjects; however, 
it certainly is extremely desirable that our youth should learn 
what it means to do a thing well. 

It may be well to add to the foregoing statement of principles 
a series of propositions, perhaps not best classified as funda- 
mental principles, but rather as postulates based on certain 
psychological considerations. They are as follows: the pro- 
gram of studies shall be sufficiently rich and varied and the 
different curriculums shall be so arranged, that every pupil 



194 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

will receive training that will assure motor skill; that he will 
form the habit of associating the symbol with the thing sym- 
bolized; that he will be given much opportunity to do real, 
independent thinking; and that he will acquire tastes and habits 
that will insure the enjoyment of his leisure time. It is believed 
that these aspects of the educative process are essential, whether 
we are thinking in terms of cultural or utilitarian values,* they 
all function in both the social and individual life as it must 
be lived today. It is now generally believed that the degree 
of success reached in each of these forms of training depends, 
perhaps, more upon the teaching method employed than upon 
the curriculum content; but there is a pretty general agree- 
ment that certain subjects are especially rich in the possibility 
which they offer for specific kinds of training; and, although 
studies are no longer pursued merely for their training value, 
no group of human powers or fruitful habits must be allowed 
to fail by default. 

VI 

Let us now come to closer terms with the practical phases of 
our general topic, viewed from the standpoint of one who is 
actually engaged in arranging a program of studies for a partic- 
ular school. 

All who discuss or think about curriculum making are aware 
that it is fundamentally a problem dealing with values. Ever 
since the time that Herbert Spencer so logically discussed the 
question, "What Knowledge is of Most Worth?" the problem 
has been definitely before us. Although no one now defends 
his curriculum of science, we still go back to him to learn how 
subjects for the curriculum should be chosen and how they 
should be knit together. He does not furnish us an acceptable 
present-day curriculum, but he does give us a method whereby 
we may, if we are wise enough to apply it, build a curriculum. 
Spencer insists throughout his many argumentatively construe- 



THE CURRICULUM 195 

ted paragraphs on the doctrine of relative values, which for 
him meant that all subjects can be arranged in a kind of definite 
hierarchy. According to his way of reasoning, this fixes the 
value of each subject relative to all the others, giving each an 
absolutely fixed place in his scale, which is equivalent to assign- 
ing absolute values for each subject as measured by its effects 
upon students in general, thus ignoring the fundamental fact 
of individual variation. It is at once apparent to any one who 
is doing modern curriculum thinking, keeping in mind the 
varying psychological needs and social conditions, that an 
absolute value cannot be assigned to any subject. The values 
are relative. Curriculum making is, indeed, a question of 
evaluation, but the values are determined by the individual's 
interests and needs as an adolescent who will soon face the 
complex social demands of some community./ These two fac- 
tors which unite in fixing the value of a particular subject for a 
particular pupil do not operate like forces in mechanics, pro- 
ducing a simple resultant; but they interact on each other in 
such a subtile manner that the process defies analysis. The 
pressure of the pupil's social and economic environment is al- 
ways present and making itself felt, but his natural inclinations 
and capacities determine in what manner he will respond to 
the pressure of his surroundings; and any school subject, in- 
cluding the method and spirit of the teaching, is a part of the 
pupil's environment. Thus, according to the modern concept 
of educational values, the worth of a course in stenography, 
Latin, animal husbandry, dietetics, or bench work cannot be 
ascertained by any Spencerian logic applied independent of 
some individual boy or girl; individual psychological needs 
and social outlook are factors which bid defiance to any scheme 
of generalization, for in both there is a personal element; and 
it is in this sense only that it is profitable to discuss the value 
of any school subject, and it is in this sense only that subjects 
have relative worth. 



196 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

Since Spencer's day the curriculum has been an arena in 
which the educational philosophers have tried their mettle; 
but nothing seemed to get settled very authoritatively concern- 
ing educational values until we read in the remarkable report of 
the Committee of Ten that it does not matter so much what 
we study as how it is studied. Judged from the viewpoint of 
the present discussion, this comes nearer the truth, because 
the spirit and the method (which constitute the how) are deter- 
mined somewhat at least by the interests and social needs of 
the learner. The Committee of Ten seems to assume that 
there is some ideal way, if it can be found, of teaching each 
subject that will give all the subjects in effect equal practical 
and cultural values. Like Spencer, the Committee overlooks 
the personal elements in the problem, represented by the in- 
terests and needs of the individual pupil. 

The conclusion of the whole matter at present seems to be, 
that, because, as we learned in our study of adolescence, the 
interests and abilities of boys and girls in their teens differ so 
widely, and because the social and economic worlds make such 
varied requirements, due to the number and complexity of 
their elements, there is an urgent demand for a rich and varied 
program of studies; it is only by providing this that we can 
guard against talents going to waste. Another impUcation 
appears to be that our high-school curriculum must always, 
as we have found in another connection, continue to be a chang- 
ing curriculum, because one of the factors which aids in fbdng 
the worth of school studies, namely, the social factor, will 
continue to change. Hence we reach the double conclusion, a 
rich and a changing curriculum for our secondary schools. 

But there must be some arrangement by means of which the 
individual pupil can select and appropriate to his own use the 
parts of this elaborate educational banquet that is spread out 
before him in the modern program of studies; to consume the 
whole menu would require in some cases seventeen or eighteen 



THE CURRICULUM 197 

years, and it is agreed that, with only a span-long life, the pupil 
should not spend over four years in gettiag this part of his 
nourishment. The selective devices have been many, and, 
like the hst of subjects, the history of the devices shows some 
interesting changes and natural developments. 

The early academies, whose very existence depended upon 
a large attendance secured through popular approval, found it 
necessary to offer a rather broad curriculum; but, as the func- 
tion of the academies and early high schools came to be looked 
upon as pretty largely that of preparing their pupils for college, 
their curriculum in most cases narrowed down to one or two 
"courses of study." At first they were *' Classical" and 
"English;" later they were "Classical" and "scientific," one 
of which all who graduated must take. These were pretty 
much the arbitrary inventions of pedagogs in and out of college. 
The extreme reaction from this narrow and strictly academic 
curriculum came in comparatively recent years when the "elec- 
tive system" came into vogue, at first in the colleges and uni- 
versities (President Eliot being the most famous and vigorous 
advocate) and later in many of the high schools. For twenty 
years educational hteratin-e was crowded with discussions of 
this system. This was a serious attempt to meet the varying 
individual interests and needs of all the pupils. Although this 
elective idea swept the country, the more conservative school 
officials ingeniously devised restrictions, so that in some in- 
stances the term "elective" was really a bluff. According to 
modern thought, the concept imderlying the elective system 
was correct; yet the system in its extreme form is now pretty 
generally discredited, and both the colleges and high schools 
have forsaken it as an educational ideal which does not work. 
Educators are again assuming the responsibility which for a 
while was shifted by many schools to the pupils and parents. 
President Meiklejohn once said: "We let the student choose 
because we have no firm convictions ourselves of what he should 



198 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

choose." But this statement no longer holds; we have now 
both convictions and courage. 

Since experience has taught that it is better to modify the 
elective system by restricting the choice of subjects, various 
regulative schemes of a somewhat scientific nature have been 
devised. Instead of returning at once to some sort of a curric- 
ulum system, various plans for grouping high-school subjects 
according to their content have been worked out, the pupil's 
choice being regulated within these groups. One form is the 
"allied group," which, as defined by Dr. Johnston, is made up 
of "studies whose subject-matters are closely related, as for 
example two or more courses in physical science or biological 
science or agriculture." Another device is the "sequential 
group," which is made of " courses in a given high-school sub- 
ject or closely allied high-school subjects which are planned for 
certain pupil groups who are to continue electing courses within 
this group through several different school years. These courses 
are so administered and taught that, because of the logical 
relationship, graded difficulty, and partial curriculum purpose, 
each course implies the next, credit for any in the group often 
being contingent upon completion of the group." In some 
schools the subjects offered are arranged in allied groups, and a 
certain number of units from each group are required for grad- 
uation, the pupils having the privilege of choosing among the 
various subjects of the group. The object of this arrangement 
is to compel the pupils to plan a balanced curriculum. Like 
the elective system, the group system makes it possible for 
each pupil to have his own combination of subjects, but with 
more or less definite limitations, usually made clear in connec- 
tion with the printed program of studies. This grouping system 
has probably worked better than the free elective system. It 
naturally forces more thoughtfulness on the part of the pupils 
and parents in arranging the school work; it tends to bring 
about a more purposeful choice of studies; and it seeks to in- 



THE CURRICULUM 



199 



troduce some order and reason into the pupils' curriculums 
from their first entrance, instead of the elective chaos which 
sometimes results from turning loose immature and irresponsible 
pupils, often without a purpose, to construct their own curricu- 
lums. 

But, according to the reasoning and experience of the present 
writer, there is a surer and more directly helpful way of meeting 
the needs of high-school pupils than by means of either the elec- 
tive or group system; and that is, by a "curriculum system," 
old fashioned as the name may sound. As used here, a cur- 
riculum is a systematic arrangement of subjects the completion 
of which leads to a diploma. In a four-year high school it 
generally represents a requirement of sixteen units. It is urged 
that each group of courses which constitutes a curriculum of 
the school be definitely planned to meet the vocational and 
social needs of a specific group of pupils. It is firmly believed 
that differentiated curriculums are demanded to serve most 
aptly the interests and needs of differentiated groups of pupils. 
The curriculum system is a deliberate attempt, as was the elec- 
tive system, to recognize the individual difference in tastes 
and capacities and to aid the individual pupil to fit completely 
into his niche in the social structure for which he appears to 
be destined. This plan implies a serious attempt in each school 
to classify the social and vocational expectations of the pupils; 
if it were possible to do this successfully, then we should have a 
natural and scientific basis for grouping the pupils. This 
scheme assumes that there is no such thing as a general voca- 
tional education, but that definite needs must be met in a more 
or less definite manner. This assumption precludes the pos- 
sibility of a curriculum, as the term is here used, being the re- 
sult of the arbitrary invention of some principal or superin- 
tendent dexterous in the manipulation of checker-board schemes 
on paper. 

Thus far it may appear that the social and vocational de- 



2CX) fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

mands of the time and the community are the main factors 
which justify the institution of differential curriculums; and 
it is doubtless true, as Professor Betts asserts, "that he who 
most nearly interprets the social demands placed upon edu- 
cation by the life of the present will come closest to finding the 
source of educational values;" but, as adolescent psychology 
teaches, youth is synonomous with rapidly widening social 
interests and relations, combined with a consequent growing 
feeling of approaching responsibility and a desire for a larger 
share in the world's activities. This means that there is, 
either active or latent, in the boy or girl of high-school age the 
psychic conditions favorable to the consideration of the various 
occupations and callings into which the world's work is classified. 
Hence it would seem to be the natural time to interest the pupil 
in vocational possibilities and requirements with a view to edu- 
cational guidance. Moreover it turns out that even "the so- 
cial demands placed upon education" can be met to the fullest 
degree only by giving to each pupil the instruction and training 
best suited to his interests and capacities, for only in this way 
will he be fitted to render his highest service to the world; and 
thus is harmonized individual and social needs. 

The curriculura system, with its clearly differentiated groups 
of subjects, each looking toward a definite profession or calling, 
creates a real problem at the outset, which should be solved by 
the combined efforts of the pupil, parents, and school adviser. 
The psychological effect of being called upon to make an early 
decision concerning a four-year curriculum ought to be whole- 
some and stabilizing, as responsibility is generally sobering in 
its influence. Thus it would appear that the curriculum sys- 
tem is desirable for vocational, social, and psychological reas- 
ons, provided always that the system is so administered that 
the financial and social status of an immature youth shall not 
be allowed to determine his future. 

How many curriculums shall there be? How shall they be 



THE CURRICULUM 20I 

constructed, and of what material? What proportion of com- 
mon elements shall they contain? These are questions calling 
for rather definite and concrete answers; one may reasonably 
expect the answers to be definite, but not always concrete, as 
conditions must always determine and conditions in this case 
cannot well be generalized. 

The first question is sensibly answered by the general prac- 
tice prevailing throughout the country in the schools where 
the system is in use. The number varies from one curriculum 
in the small, meagerly equipped high schools to forty or fifty 
rather distinct curriculums found in the large cosmopolitan 
high schools, with their adequate buildings, complete equipment, 
and corps of highly specialized teachers. A few years ago Los 
Angeles, Cal., had forty- two. Because the local demands are 
sometimes pressing, because school officials are ambitious for 
their school and anxious to be progressive, there has been a 
rather strong tendency for schools to undertake the adminis- 
tration of a larger number of curriculums than the teaching 
force of the schools or the resources of the communities warrant. 

In answer to the second question, the best thought at present 
suggests that each curriculum be built up around a three- or 
four-year ''major," which names and characterizes the curric- 
ulum. This major may be a single subject, like a foreign lan- 
guage or agriculture, or it may be a group of closely allied sub- 
jects, like the commercial branches, or it may be a logically 
knit sequential group, like a four-year sequence in mathematics. 
Whatever be the constitution of this dominating group of 
courses, its purpose is to meet, more or less directly, the voca- 
tional and social needs of a particular group of pupils, so far 
as these needs can be anticipated. The type curriculums which 
are described later illustrate the different kinds of majors and 
the idea of differentiated fimctions. It will be found in prac- 
tice that these majors, with the exception of some of the foreign 
languages, are made up largely of the later additions to our 



202 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

high-school program of studies; and they are built up from the 
courses that are felt by the pupils and the community to b^ 
immediately practical. They contain the materials in the 
curriculum whose worth is largely fixed by the relation of the 
individual to some part of his environment; consequently 
they furnish a part of the pupil's work which should require 
no artificial motivation. Referring to our statement of funda- 
mental principles of curriculum making, the major provides 
the subject-matter for prolonged and sustained effort; it is 
that subject about which the pupil aims to ''know everything." 
The major is justified by the social outlook of the group of 
pupils who choose it. But it also furnishes the most fruitful 
kind of discipline; because it naturally makes a strong appeal 
to the vital interests of the pupils, thus securing the enthusiasm 
necessary to an active and aggressive attitude toward the work; 
and because it tends to establish a relation between the pupils 
and their work most closely resembling conditions outside of 
school; and, as Spencer has pointed out, faculties are best 
developed through the performance of those functions and du- 
ties which the conditions of life require. The major subject 
is chosen for its contejit value, but the mental training is an 
exceedingly important accompaniment. 

Every curriculum, it is conceded generally, should make 
ample provision for training in the oral and written use of the 
mother tongue and the development of taste for and apprecia- 
tion of good modern literature, both prose and poetry; this is 
for both practical and cultural reasons, which have been too 
often stated to need repeating here. No part of education 
should result in more profit and pleasure than the work done 
in English. High schools throughout the country generally 
require from three to four years of this work; with the system 
here advocated the amount and nature of the work may well 
vary slightly, depending upon the purpose of the curriculum 
requiring it. 



THE CURRICULUM 203 

The arguments in favor of a three- or four-year major as 
the basis of each curriculum would seem to lead to the conclu- 
sion that it would be pedagogical to devote the four years of 
the pupil's time to the intensive study of four or five subjects; 
the influence of the Committee of Ten led in this direction. 
But this is proving too much. This plan would entirely ex- 
clude from the individual curriculum many important fields 
of knowledge of which the pupil must not remain ignorant. 
As Dean Leete of Carnegie Institute epigramatically remarks, 
"You can't build an intensive knowledge of one thing upon the 
extensive ignorance of all things." It is pretty well agreed, 
both in theory and practice, that the intellectual needs of 
the pupil are more surely met by building up the remainder 
of the sixteen units, after the work in English and the major is 
provided for, out of comparatively short courses, most of them 
not to exceed a year. Someone has stated as an ideal, that 
one should know "everything about one thing and something 
about everything," and that the high-school curriculum should 
be planned with this need of the pupil in mind. The second 
half of this epigram suggests the short courses, often called 
"minors," of which we are speaking. This part of curriculum 
building is worthy the utmost care and wisdom. The purposes 
of these minors are manifold. Here should be found the sub- 
ject-matter of which one cannot afford to be ignorant, "the 
priceless elements of the heritage of race experience," as Bagley 
expresses it; they include some courses common to all curric- 
ulums. However, many of them should be chosen and ar- 
ranged in such a way as to buttress the work of the major 
study or group; as, for instance, chemistry in the domestic 
science curriculum, commercial arithmetic in connection with 
accounting, design in the manual training and domestic art 
curriculums, color and textiles in the domestic art curriculum, 
Roman history in the Latin curriculum, and so on. Among 



204 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

these short courses, too, should be included the subjects de- 
manded for "a liberal education" and for citizenship, such as 
pertain to common duties and responsibilities; these subjects 
are sometimes called "constants." They should represent 
nearly every field of human knowledge; and, because of their 
scope, they are well suited to test abilities along many lines, 
making a many sided appeal, and are broadly suggestive con- 
cerning the future work of the pupil, whether or not he enters 
higher institutions of learning. In brief, these minors pro- 
vide the elements of a well-rounded mental equipment. 

It would seem reasonable that one who has made some study 
of adolescent nature, who in general is familiar with the content 
of high-school subjects, who has given thought to the demands 
of social and economic life, and who is at least aware of the 
problems involved in modern curriculum planning, is more 
likely to construct a pedagogically arranged, closely knit, 
and definitely purposeful curriculum than an immature pupil 
thirteen or fourteen years of age who is just entering high school 
for the first time. The qualifications just mentioned are surely 
not unreasonable to expect of any principal or superintendent 
who would essay the task of making curriculums for his high 
school. Each differential curriculum should have a pretty 
definite vocational purpose, and be defendable on other grounds 
than tradition, custom, disciplinary value, character forming 
material, social worth, or any other vague and unproved claim. 
When all concerned unite in choosing one of the curriculums 
such as are here proposed, it would appear that we are justified 
in expecting that the pupil's educational welfare will be more 
surely secured than by shuffling isolated courses, especially if 
childish whims are allowed to influence the shuffling; this sys- 
tem automatically restrains the vicious manner of choosing 
which the elective system invites. 



THE CURRICULUM 205 

vin 

The following curriculums are submitted, not as ideals by 
any means, but as suggestive types, illustrative of the principles 
of curriculum making proposed in this chapter. What was said 
earlier in the chapter concerning the changing curriculum and 
the causes for its changing should make clear why these efforts 
at curriculum making will soon appear out of date. The reader 
will not expect to find these curriculums perfectly adapted to 
any particular school. The name of each will make clear its 
proposed vocational function. Each represents sixteen units 
of work. 

1. In an agricultural curriculum, the major may well be 
composed of the following closely allied courses: domestic 
animals, animal feeding, crop production, soil physics, soil 
fertiUty, orchard and garden, plant and animal improvement, 
farm machinery, and farm management. Each subject can 
be covered in about a semester. The work in English composi- 
tion and literature should be the same as in other curriculums. 
The short courses, or minors, are bench work, based on farm 
projects; mechanical drawing; cement construction; farm 
arithmetic, with the problems all based on data drawn from 
scientific farming; bookkeeping, applied to farm accounts; 
zoology, with the economic phases emphasized; physiology and 
hygiene; chemistry; physics; a year course in correlated alge- 
bra and geometry; commercial geography, industrial history, 
economics; United States history and civics. This curriculum 
is planned for boys who expect to take charge of a farm or enter 
an agricultural college. 

2. The following allied courses, which naturally fall into 
two groups, are suggested as a major for a home economics 
curriculum: {a) food and cookery, meal planning and serving, 
household management, household accounts, food preservation, 
experimental cookery, dietetics, care and feeding of infants, 
home nursing and invalid cookery, institutional cookery, and 



2o6 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

laundry; (b) plain sewing, dressmaking, millinery, and tex- 
tiles. Each of the foregoing groups is equivalent to two units; 
nearly all the work requires double class periods. The remain- 
der of the curriculum is made up of the usual work in English 
and the following minors: free-hand drawing, color, design, 
home decoration, costume design, elementary physical science, 
zoology, physiology and hygiene, botany, correlated mathe- 
matics, chemistry, physics, commercial geography, industrial 
history, economics, and United States history and civics. The 
course in physics should contain very little mathematics and 
much applied work. The chemistry should include a study of 
soap and soap making, sugar and sugar refining, baking powders 
and their use, dyeing, breakfast foods, milk, jellies, preserves, 
pickles, and candies. The major in this curriculum is made up 
of subjects which afford ample opportunities for training the 
eye and hand, and they can be made highly disciplinary. This 
is clearly a home-maker's curriculum for girls. 

3. The commercial curriculum may include the following 
courses in its major: penmanship, business English, business 
methods, accounting (one year), shorthand, typewriting (each 
two years), and office training. The usual work in English 
should extend through the four years. The minors are the fol- 
lowing: correlated mathematics; commercial arithmetic, taken 
at the same time as the accounting; elementary physical science; 
zoology; physiology and hygiene; botany; physics; commer- 
cial geography; industrial history; economics; commercial 
law; and United States history and civics. Double class 
periods are needed for accounting. This curriculum will 
probably enroll over thirty per cent of the pupils of the 
school. Its function is clearly differentiated: it aims to fit 
pupils directly for business life or prepare them for further 
work in university schools of commerce. This curriculum 
should be open to both boys and girls. 

4. The field of manual training is so broad that it is difficult 



THE CURRICULUM 207 

to select the courses that should constitute the major in this 
curriculum; much depends upon the possible equipment of 
the school and the vocational outlook of the pupils. The fol- 
lowing courses, all requiring double periods, are suggested: 
bench work, wood turning, furniture, pattern making, molding 
in soft metals, art metal, forging (when practical), bookbind- 
ing, pottery, mechanical drawing, machine drawing, and archi- 
tectural drawing. The necessary work in English for this 
curriculum can be done in three years. The minors are as 
follows: algebra, plane geometry, mechanics arithmetic, book- 
keeping (short course), free-hand drawing, design, elementary 
physical science, zoology, physiology and hygiene, botany, 
physics, commercial geography, industrial history, economics, 
United States history and civics. This curriculum is fundamen- 
tally educational in its scope and content, and vocational in 
its methods; it looks somewhat definitely toward some of 
the mechanical callings; and, if a semester each of advanced 
algebra and solid geometry is included, it should prepare well 
for any of the various university curriculums in engineering. 

5. The last type curriculum to be submitted corresponds 
somewhat closely to the old "college of art;" and, as matters 
now stand, it is recommended for pupils who expect to pursue 
a letters and science curriculum in college. The major is 
made up of work in one or two of the foreign languages as fol- 
lows: Latin for two, three, or four years, including the authors 
usually read in high school and parts of Ovid; a modern lan- 
guage for at least two years, preferably French or Spanish, 
depending upon the vocational expectations of the pupil. The 
major may include from four to six years of foreign language 
work, depending on the number and combination of the courses; 
but the work in any one language should not be less than two 
years. At least ten units should be required from other sub- 
jects. The work in English may vary from three to four years. 
The minors are algebra, plane geometry, elementary physical 



2o8 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

science, zoology, physiology and hygiene, botany, physics, 
ancient history, medieval and modern history, United States 
history and civics, economics, and free-hand drawing. Provision 
should be made for the substitution of advanced algebra and 
solid geometry when desired. The aim of this curriculum is not 
so directly vocational as that of the others. Although college 
requirements are now viewed as a species of impertinence, 
this curriculum looks toward college training or one of the 
professions. It is noticeably lacking in opportunities for hand 
and eye training, unless the sciences are made to contribute to 
this; but it is composed largely of subjects that have been fully 
organized, with methods of instruction completely developed. 

In three of these curriculums correlated mathematics, com- 
pleted in one year, takes the place of the traditional courses in 
algebra and plane geometry, the purpose being to save time for 
the courses with a more definite vocational outlook. It will 
be noted that certain sequential groups recur among the con- 
stants; for example, commercial geography, industrial history, 
and economics, providing an inductive approach to economic 
laws; zoology, and physiology and hygiene, the zoology fur- 
nishing a scientific basis for the practical aspects of the other 
subjects; and United States history and civics, which are best 
treated as a sequence. These sequential groups of minors are 
introduced for the purpose of making each curriculum a fabric 
as closely knit together as possible. 

In addition to the work outlined above, it will be agreed that 
all pupils should be given a chance for training in music, public 
speaking, and gymnasium work. The training in vocal music 
should include both class and glee club work. The work in 
expression and public speaking should receive attention at 
least once a week. The work in physical education should be 
regular, the amount depending on conditions. When practical 
the course in physiology and .hygiene, as well as the gymnasium 
work, should be given to the boys and girls separately. 



THE CURRICULUM 209 

It will be noted that the program of studies here suggested 
makes it possible easily to increase the number of curriculums 
by a more complete differentiation of the pupil-groups: the 
home economics naturally divides into domestic science and 
domestic art; the commercial, into accounting and stenography; 
the manual training, wood working and metal working; the 
foreign language curriculum, into as many curriculums as there 
are languages offered. Many of the newer subjects, such as 
printing and salesmanship, are not mentioned; but they may 
well be included when conditions favor. The greater the 
number of curriculums, the more definitely the school can 
meet the vocational needs of the pupils. 

The reader, doubtless, is surprised at the amount of work in 
science that is required in all of the curriculums submitted. 
The author believes that Dr. C. W. Eliot is correct in main- 
taining that, ''the most important part of education has always 
been the training of the senses through which the best part of 
knowledge comes." "If brain, eye, and hand are cooperating, 
the developing mental effect is increased; and the mental ac- 
tion and reaction is stronger still when eyes, ears, and hands, 
and the whole nervous system, the memory, and the discrim- 
inating judgment are at work together." It would seem that 
work in the sciences, when they are taught concretely and in- 
ductively, is one of the surest means that we have yet discovered 
for giving this all-important training in the correlation of eye, 
hand, and brain. Moreover, judging the sciences by the mar- 
velous results that their application has produced during the 
past fifty years, one is constrained to believe that their pursuit 
must furnish both "fruitful knowledge" and "practical skill," 
and, if their pursuit develops in the pupils a scientific attitude, 
then we have fulfilled the third demand, namely, "right atti- 
tudes," which, according to Professor Betts, society is making 
upon the schools. 



2IO HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

IX 

There are a few points concerning the administration of such 
a curriculum system as is here described on which it is easy to 
agree. The system provides very definite combinations of 
courses and thus seems rather rigid, perhaps too much so in 
some cases to meet the unforeseen interests and needs of individ- 
ual pupils; consequently the substitution of one subject for 
another should be allowed when there is a real reason for such 
a change. In planning the curriculums, it may, also, be con- 
sidered advisable to add an element of flexibility to the system 
by arranging for a few alternates. It must be kept in mind, 
too, that the assignment of a pupil to a particular curriculum is 
not an act of infallibility, but at best merely a diagnosis and 
united judgment of the pupil and one or more adults; hence 
it should always be possible for a pupil to change from one 
curriculum to another without loss of credits when it is be- 
lieved by all concerned that the real needs of the pupil will be 
better served by the change. There are other elements of flex- 
ibility that some administrators may see fit to introduce in 
the interest of individual differences. For strong pedagogical 
reasons, each subject should be held pretty definitely to its 
assigned year; that is, there should be little mixing of the pu- 
pils of different grades in the same class. Incidentally it may be 
noted that the curriculum system greatly facilitates the arrange- 
ing of the daily program of classes, since it gives rise to a definite 
grouping of the entire school, the size of the groups correspond- 
ing to the number enrolled in the various curriculums. 

Who should make the curriculum of the high school? A 
questionnaire covering the entire country would show that, 
with a very few exceptions, it is either the principal or the super- 
intendent, working in his isolated wisdom, who determines 
both the content of the program of studies and the grouping 
of the courses in the various curriculums. Perhaps this part 
of our educational procedure, like many other aspects of our 



THE CURRICULUM 211 

school systems, is a remnant of the natural way of settling 
matters when the principal owned the school or academy. 
If our ideals of democracy are to be reflected in the manage- 
ment of our high schools, and if the professional intelligence 
of our many specifically trained teachers is to be capitalized, 
there must be faculty cooperation based on a measure of real 
responsibility on the part of all the members of the teaching 
force that are competent to interpret, criticize, and evaluate 
present-day educational procedure; and there are naturally in 
every carefully selected high-school faculty many teachers 
with thorough professional training and appreciative attitudes. 
If the viewpoint of these discussions is correct, the teachers 
who possess the most accurate and S3rnipathetic knowledge 
of the nature and needs of adolescents and who are most fully 
aware of the wealth of educational material available will 
be most capable of cooperating when curriculum, construction 
or revision is undertaken. _Each teacher should know best the 
possibilities of the curriculum material in his own department, 
while the relation of the parts of the curriculum and the com- 
binations and sequences of subjects are best determined by 
the faculty as a whole after much study and thorough discussion. 
No principal or superintendent who has in mind only the wel- 
fare of the pupils can forego the cooperative services of the 
teachers with their combined wealth of experience and knowl- 
edge. Furthermore, no argument is needed to convince the 
reader of the advantage of the cooperative over the proprietary 
method of dealing with curriculum problems as to its bearing 
on the attitude of the teachers toward the changes introduced. 
An effort has been made to show that the various needs of 
the community, as well as the interests and aptitudes of the 
pupils, will be most effectively met by carefully planned differ- 
ential curriculums based on the real activities of life rather 
than on predominant subjects. It is also maintained that the 
curriculum system permits a more homogeneous grouping of 



212 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the pupils, because the grouping is largely dominated by their 
vocational outlook; both the admininstrative and pedagogical 
advantages are readily apparent here. By making the primary 
and controlling purpose of each curriculum the training of the 
pupils who choose it for some rather definite place in their con- 
temporary social economy it is believed there will result a more 
highly developed body of knowledge and a greater degree of 
skill, judged by the relation of this knowledge and skill to some 
occupation or calling. It is assumed that the disciplinary and 
cultural needs will be amply and effectively cared for while 
the vocational aims are being met; it is believed, also, that 
preparation for citizenship, building up of the inner resources, 
training for enjoyment, and development of a capacity for 
appreciation of the finer things of life can be made to parallel 
the vocationally controlled efforts of the school, and that 
it is very important to the welfare of the community and the 
pupil that these aims should not be divorced. Those phases 
of education which look to the personal and civic welfare of 
the pupil are extremely important; they provide for the inte- 
grating function of education; and this function of the high 
school is secured in the foregoing curriculums by a liberal num- 
ber of carefully chosen constants, which should cover the fields 
and be organized and taught in the same way in all the curric- 
ulums. Moreover, the underlying theory of this chapter 
implies that much personal and cultural development comes as 
a most important by-product of the definitely directed voca- 
tional efforts of the pupils. This seems to be in conformity 
with fundamental principles of human economy, which demand, 
not that the individual be merely good, but that he be good 
for something; people that are definitely useful are, not only 
the most helpful members of society, but in general they en- 
joy the greatest measure of real personal satisfaction. Thus, 
while we train our pupils to make a living, we prepare them to 
make a life. 



CHAPTER XI 
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 

In this chapter we return to the study of the social nature 
and needs of high-school pupils. In Chapter VI emphasis was 
placed on the social aspects of adolescence, as a part of a com- 
plete account of the psychology of the period; in this chapter 
the emphasis will be laid on the means of meeting the social 
needs and supplying the important training which the rapidly 
unfolding social nature of adolescence demands. Without 
doubt the modern high-school curriculum, as discussed in the 
last chapter, attempts to appeal to the vast and varied inter- 
ests of youth, ihcluding the social side of his nature; but it is 
especially through the extra-curricular activities of the high 
school that we are able to make the most direct and effective 
appeal to the social instincts and impulses, and consequently 
it is through these that we may minister most helpfully, as 
the following discussions attempt to indicate. Moreover, 
according to the modern conception of secondary education, 
the distinct line between formal education based on the curric- 
ulum and informal training secured through the properly or- 
ganized and directed social activities is gradually to disappear, 
and some form of integrated education that will coordinate the 
experiences of the pupils is the aim of much recent educational 
effort; in this way the school will be made more like'life. 

As explained in the last chapter, all modern education is 
social education, using social in its broadest sense; it is a direct 
attempt on the part of the school to meet the needs of society; 
or, as Dr. Snedden expresses it, it is that ''form of education 
the primary and controlling purpose of which is to affect group 

213 



214 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

activities in accordance with the demands of modern civihzed 
society." ''It is directed toward the formation of the habits, 
the development of appreciations, imparting of knowledge, 
and the formation of the ideals that underlie effective partici- 
pation in group activities, such as those of the home, the state, 
and society generally." According to this modern concept of 
education, those forms which are called "physical education" 
and "cultural education" make only indirect, yet very impor- 
tant, contributions to the educative process. It will be helpful 
in the following discussions to keep in mind this modern notion 
of education; and no reader of Part I of this book will fail 
to recognize in the social activities of the secondary school 
the opportunity par excellent for all forms of social train- 
ing. 

Students of adolescence have always been impressed with 
the innate tendency of both boys and girls of this age to initiate 
some form of organization. It is interesting and significant 
the way the gang spirit of the preadolescent period gradually 
yet rapidly yields to a strong desire for organization. We need 
not go far to find the explanation of this familiar phenomenon: 
Hall has called it a "vicarious expression of the social instinct;" 
returning to the terminology used in our description of the 
earlier phases of the period, gregariousness is the underlying 
cause; it is one of the forms in which social gravitation mani- 
fests itself. Because of this adolescent tendency, organiza- 
tions will be formed without the help of the faculty; this spon- 
taneous type of organization, as Professor Scott suggests, "is 
not always fully conscious of itself, but it is none the less in- 
fluential." Certain boys and girls are looked up to as leaders 
and around these some sort of an organized group will develop, 
so that a teacher is often unconsciously contending with one 
of these self-organized groups when he thinks he is dealing with 
an individual. It would appear that there is but one view to 
take of this organizing tendency of youth, and that is, to see in 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 215 

it great possibilities for effective control, social training, and 
moral influence. 

But such has not always been the attitude of high-school 
faculties toward pupil organizations. There are perhaps three 
distinct policies that have been pursued relative to them: (i) 
in some schools all the social activities of the pupils are domi- 
nated by the faculty, and there are no real organizations in the 
biological sense of the term; (2) sometimes the existence of pu- 
pil organizations is ignored with no attempt at control; (3) 
and there are schools in which the organizations and the fac- 
ulty have learned to cooperate closely. 

1. Where complete faculty control exists, one may expect 
lack of enthusiasm concerning social matters and perhaps a 
critical attitude toward whatever is, together with a sad dearth 
of opportunities to develop initiative and leadership. The 
only claim that can be made for complete faculty domination 
is that this policy requires less time and effort on the part of 
those responsible; this may be a claim but surely it is not an 
argument. 

2. Where the social activities are ignored, it would seem that 
the only aim of the school is to develop and train the intellec- 
tual powers, assuming that human beings are pure intellect, or 
that the other phases of human nature will develop sufficiently 
and symmetrically without any attention from the school. 
One need not be surprised to find, under such conditions, that 
the athletic teams engage in practices that are decidedly harm- 
ful to the individual players and disgraceful to the school 
which they represent, and that fraternities and sororities, with 
all their attendant evils effecting both members and school, 
are flourishing. We may be certain that the social proclivities 
are ever present and will surely find some form of expres- 
sion. 

3. The policy of thorough cooperation in all the extra-curricu- 
lar affairs, which are usually of a social nature^ would seem to 



2l6 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

call for no defense, since it now has the support of sound peda- 
gogical principles and of much successful experience. If any 
defense is needed, it is hoped that sufficient will appear in the 
following statement of the functions of high-school social ac- 
tivities. 

The function of such activities grows out of two demands; 
namely, the nature of the adolescent, already referred to, and 
the needs of the extremely social life for which he is preparing. 
The demands are supported by our knowledge of adolescent 
psychology and modern sociology; the former urges that 
opportunity be given for natural self-expression, and the latter 
suggests an attempt at complete social adjustment. Thus 
the function under consideration has two aspects: one sub- 
jective, involving all that can be known concerning the whole 
nature of youth; and the other objective, involving a thorough 
knowledge of modern society. 

In our study of adolescence something was said concerning 
the secondary sex characters or manifestations and the impor- 
tance to the welfare of the individual that these should be given 
adequate and safe channels through which to flow. When 
natural and wholesome means of expression for these secondary 
sex instincts are furnished, we are suppl3dng the "long-cir- 
cui tings" urged by Dr. Hall as necessary to individual safety; 
or, in the language of Freud, we provide a means of sublimat- 
ing the sex impulses. Thus one of the important functions of 
high-school social activities is to establish safe and attractive 
avenues through which this subtile form of adolescent energy 
may find expression. In the "good old days," before the social 
forms of organization now common in the modern high school 
had found a place in our educational thinking and practice, 
the oft-recounted student pranks and the disgraceful outbreaks 
of mischief bordering on crime were among the ways that the 
unrestrained social impulses found vent. There is always 
danger of all sorts of social extremes, unless the social instincts 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 217 

with their corresponding emotions are allowed expression in 
fitting social action. 

As just stated, these social arrangements would seem to have 
a negative or safety-valve function; but we may be sure that 
their function is also positive in the fullest sense. During 
infancy, childhood, and preadolescence, the will has a long 
struggle, finding its way up through self-discovery and self- 
control to real comradeship; in early adolescence it is capable 
of personal loyalty, and in middle adolescence of self-reliance; 
finally in late adolescence must coiiie, if at all, leadership, one 
of the will quantities of which the world has always been greatly 
in need. The only way to aid in the development of leaders 
is to furnish the opportunity for exercise and training in leader- 
ship; here, as elsewhere, one must learn to do by doing. As 
already intimated, leaders will appear whether or not there is a 
conscious effort at social organization; but these self-appointed, 
sometimes unconscious, leaders are not the constitutional 
leaders that are needed in a democracy, and one can never 
know in what direction they will lead. Hence social activities 
of all kinds are urgently demanded to serve as a training ground 
for safe leadership, the kind that will recognize natural and 
necessary limits, and that will function in accordance with the 
social will as expressed by the laws of society, instead of in 
accordance with self-will. It is only through the various forms 
of organization that the school most effectively brings to bear 
on the individual the maturing and sobering effect of socially- 
placed responsibility. 

But all cannot be leaders. What does the school's organized 
efforts )deld for those who follow? When the word organiza- 
tion is used carefully, it connotes life and growth; it suggests a 
working together of many parts toward a common purpose; 
it implies an interplay of forces, social in this case, each shaping 
the other while it is being shaped. In the democratic school 
organization there is valuable training in the give-and-take of 



2l8 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

life, which cannot be acquired within the school so well in any 
other way; this tends to mitigate selfishness, and at the same 
time develop social power; in brief, it is a splendid place to 
learn to do "teamwork" and form the habit of cooperation, 
which it is hoped will carry over into community life. It fur- 
nishes a means of teaching first hand the relation of the individ- 
ual to society and society to the individual; it may even give 
a foretaste of the ideals and joys of social service. 

These are some of the ways in which social activities contrib- 
ute to the social well-being of high-school pupils; but there are 
other results. As Dr. C. A. Perry of the Russell Sage Founda- 
tion has said, "intellectual growth is largely conditioned b}^ 
the contact of the individual with other individuals. In the 
approbation of the group lies a powerful incentive in learning; " 
and there has yet been found no more effective means for mak- 
ing the individual know and feel the force of public opinion 
than the extra-class activities of the school, in which the pupil 
constantly submits to the judgment of the group and is thus 
stimulated or repressed as his action demands. In the coming 
together of the group the gregarious instincts are gratified, 
and in the approval of the group youthful love of approbation 
is appealed to. 

Again, in these social activities, which most nearly simulate 
real life, there is provided a splendid opportunity for the ex- 
ercise and development of loyalty, one of the most pervasive 
and the furthest-reaching of the virtues. When the enthusiastic 
youth identifies himself with the group of his own choice, he 
is no longer a mere individual, but a member of a debating 
club, an orchestra, a football team, or a play cast; and he must 
put forth his best effort in order that he may loyally serve the 
purpose of his organization. At no time in life is a human being 
so greatly influenced by loyalty as a motive; and it is only by 
the utmost devotion to the "cause" of the group that the in- 
dividual can show his loyalty. It is interesting and encourag- 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 219 

ing to note how some rather indolent, indifferent pupil, with 
seemingly little ability, will be roused to successful effort when 
the much coveted membership in some group has been attained; 
both his sense of pride and his natural loyalty are appealed 
to; he must "make good" for his team or his club. He gains 
in the kind of power represented by the purpose of his organi- 
zation and incidentally learns loyalty by being loyal. The 
lesson in loyalty is the best that the school can give the pupil. 

Because a human being is a real unit, an organic whole, phys- 
ically, intellectually, socially, and morally, whatever affects the 
social aspects of his life favorably also affects all the other 
phases of his nature favorably, including especially the moral. 
In fact morality is simply knowing the will of the community in 
matters affecting the welfare of others, either directly or in- 
directly, and doing it; it is knowing and obeying the social-will. 
"The moral life is the response that the individual makes to 
the social order in which he lives." From this it follows that 
it is one of the functions of the social activities of the school 
to furnish this moral training which comes from all kinds of 
social contact. It would appear that the Baconian adage which 
affirms that character is perfected in solitude and talent in 
society is out of date; we have a new gospel which proclaims 
that character is perfected and strengthened by vigorous and 
frequent contact with the will of others; and this social impact 
is most effective when experienced in a group, all the members 
of which are striving for a common purpose. Not only is this 
the way character is built, but this is the means by which the 
individual comes to know his own character; he discovers 
himself only when he begins to feel the force of the social-will, 
when the dynamic force of his own social impulses meets and 
learns to unite and harmonize with corresponding impulses 
in others. It is only through vigorous social experiences that 
unsocial or purely individualistic tendencies can be overcome. 
The one who goes out into life with anything capricious or 



220 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

freakish about him is doomed to many discouraging failures in 
spite of much native abihty, discouraging because the socially 
inefficient never fully understand the cause of their repeated 
failures. The high-school dramatic club, debating society, and 
athletic team, each with its own style of strenuous criticism, 
coaching, and give-and-take, will aid greatly in removing the 
social kinks. 

There is another important function of the social side of 
high-school life, important to the individual as affecting the 
integrity of his entire development and important for the school 
as making it a highly desirable place in which to live during 
the appointed time; this function is to give recreation and 
pleasure, and incidentally to teach ways of having wholesome 
recreation and pleasure and fix habits pertaining to these. It 
is a well established psychological fact that the keenest pleas- 
ure experienced by human beings is always in some way re- 
lated to the activities of others; and the amount of enjoyment 
is likely to be in some sort of proportion to the degree of spon- 
taneity which leads to this relation; thus social affinity, that 
strange subtile force, must be allowed some degree of freedom 
in order to do its work. Can any one who watches sympathet- 
ically and participates in the social activities mentioned later 
in this chapter doubt that the normal youth of high-school 
age gets the keenest kind of pleasure out of his part? It is, 
also, well known and fortunate that the things which give zest 
to life and make it seem worth living are the activities that 
are the most formative in their influences; they are sure to 
leave a "trace on the brain and nerve." Health of both mind 
and body depends on the proper functioning of the emotions, 
and here wholesome enjoyment easily ranks first in importance. 
Perhaps no one has seen more concrete proof of the relation 
between recreation and conduct than Jane Addams in her 
admirable work at Hull House; and she assures us " that amuse- 
ment is stronger than vice, and that it alone can stifle the lust 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 221 

for vice." Unfortunate, indeed, is the pupil who goes through 
high school without experiencing the joys and benefits of 
friendly association with his fellow pupils for some definite and 
worthy purpose; yet this is always liable to happen in the case 
of a certain retiring, self-conscious type of pupil. 

Youth needs many forms of pleasant social cooperation, 
both for their character-shaping value and for their recreational 
value; but he needs them, also, that he may get firmly fixed, 
before it is too late, the habits of harmless enjoyment, one of 
the most valuable personal assets that he can take with him 
from his school life. J. P. Graber urges that "it is just as essen- 
tial to a stable social order that the individual should know how 
to spend his recreational hours as it is that he should know how 
to spend his vocational hours." 

If properly managed, social activities provide a safe channel 
for adolescent impulses, give skill in the interpretation of social 
situations, furnish training in leadership, help to form right 
attitudes and habits of cooperation, aid in developing the in- 
tellect, supply a motive for loyalty, create a moral atmosphere, 
and give real satisfaction and joy. It is because these are 
among their functions, as just explained, that many high-school 
principals are neither passively allowing voluntary, self-di- 
rected organizing to go on unheeded, nor arbitrarily insisting 
on faculty domination; but they are assuming the responsibility 
which adolescent nature and the social demands of the modern 
world suggest. In many high schools, where the modern view- 
point is held and the modern spirit prevails, much time and 
energy are devoted to devising means and methods for properly 
encouraging and controlling the social and organizing tenden- 
cies of the pupils, in some schools even credit toward gradua- 
tion being given for proficiency in social leadership. However, 
it is only within the last few years that the possibilities for so- 
cial training have come to be appreciated and the consequent 
obligation assumed. But, recent as is the movement, it is 



// 



222 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

an educational issue that must now be squarely faced; the 
composite social life and the spirit of the age must be reflected 
both in the curriculum and in the social activities of the pupils; 
both are tributaries to the broad stream of fruitful knowledge 
and inherited culture with which the modern high school en- 
riches its community. The subjects of the curriculum are 
made to suggest methods of life rather than treated as distinct 
studies; and the various organizations of the school aim to 
embody and give expression to high ideals and noble resolves, 
furnishing a training, which, it is hoped, will become intuitive 
and aid when the stress and strains of life must be met. 

If high-school authorities understand their responsibility in 
these matters and have accepted it, what methods are they 
employing in the discharge of their duties? When pupil or- 
ganizations are initiated or modified, the traditions and work 
of the past are not to be ignored. Constructive effort begins 
with conditions as they are and proceeds gradually, the 
results of each step suggesting the next. No ready-made 
scheme is forced upon the pupils; here we are dealing with 
life, and cut-and-dried methods do not succeed. Even if the 
most ingenious adult plans could be made to work, they are 
not desirable; if forced upon the pupils, they kill initiative 
and tend to discourage and stunt orginality. Hence the skil- 
ful faculty adviser keeps himself in the background, allows the 
officers (of which he is never one) and the committees to make 
decisions and sometimes learn by their mistakes; he works 
mostly by indirect and suggestive methods; he combines ad- 
vice with constitutional liberty, the degree of freedom and the 
amount of advice varying by an inverse ratio as experience is 
gained and competency is manifested. It is only by this 
cooperative method that a social organization can work out 
and express the law of its own being, and unless it does this 
it is not a real organization but merely an aggregation of in- 
dividuals without true social unity, which cannot be expected to 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 223 

function in the ways already described. This means that the 
pupils must be in the game from the first, must be active and 
influential in framing the constitution and by-laws when these 
are needed, must create the pupil sentiment necessary to secure 
their approval and adoption, and must from time to time make 
their needs felt in shaping the policies of the organizations. 
Perhaps the most important duty of the faculty representative 
is to insist that membership in his organization stands for some- 
thing really worth while; unless membership means some 
pretty tangible and definite advantage, respect for the organi- 
zation and interest in its activities will soon be lost; and this 
part of the adviser's work also will be accomplished by indirect 
and suggestive methods. This will include frank and open 
constructive criticism^ this being part of the training in give- 
and-take, which constitutes so much of life outside of the 
school. It is most wholesome when the opinions and criticisms 
of the adviser can be given on terms of equality and are entirely 
lacking in any imperative suggestion. Throughout his entire 
high-school experience the author has always been responsible 
for several organizations and has never explicitly retained the 
veto power; this policy he thoroughly believes in but does not 
urge it upon others, as conditions must determiue. The ped- 
agogy of the whole matter may be sununed up as, sympathetic 
cooperation as nearly as possible on terms of equality. 

It is a question how the faculty advisers are to be selected. 
Some high-school teachers are not well fitted by nature or 
training to enter understandingly and sympathetically into 
any of the social life of adolescents (should they retain their 
positions?), and some do not wish to do this extra outside work. 
Young people are much like certain of the lower animals; they 
instinctively know their friends when they meet them. In 
general it seems best to allow each class and organization to 
choose its own adviser, the principal guarding against too much 
being required of any one teacher. This method of choosing 



224 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

may be supplemented in some cases by the principal's suggest^ 
ing teachers that are known to be experts in the work needed. 
Thus even the choosing of an adviser may be managed coop- 
eratively. It is usually found that the teachers who are natu- 
rally well qualified for this social work enjoy it; there are many 
returns from this form of service when well rendered. 

The qualifications of the successful adviser are easily named: 
deep interest in young people and the things that appeal to 
them, tact, attractive personality, and usually some expert 
knowledge of the particular kind of activity to be managed; 
to these might be added the vision which sees in boys and 
girls the future efl&cient and agreeable members of the commu- 
nity. With such teachers in charge, pupils voluntarily and 
gladly come for help and advice, and control by the exercise of 
authority is not necessary. The teachers who are responsible 
for the various organizations and social activities of the school 
naturally constitute an unofficial cabinet of the principal, to 
keep him informed and counsel with him concerning the social 
progress and welfare of the school. Fortunate are the teachers 
chosen for this work; theirs is a delightful task; they will re- 
main young in spirit by continually renewing their youth. 

The number and kind of social activities and organizations 
will depend upon the size of the school, the teachers available 
for the work of guiding them, and somewhat upon the interests 
of the community. The following are the organizations that 
existed in a high school of about five hundred pupils, all of 
which were social in the wider sense: girls' literary society, 
with two women of the faculty chosen by the society as ad- 
visers, and holding bi-weekly meetings; boys' debating club, 
with a man in charge, and meeting every week; girls' glee club 
and boys' glee club, both in charge of the teacher of music, 
holding weekly rehearsals, and giving occasional public enter- 
tainments; orchestra, in charge of a skilled leader, having week- 
ly practices, and furnishing music for all public school functions; 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 225 

mandolin and guitar club (now considered out of fashion); 
boys' athletic association and athletic council, the latter com- 
posed of team captains, coaches, and principal; girls' athletic 
association and council, similar in organization to the boys' 
association; tennis association, members paying a small annual 
fee; publishing association, composed of editors, managers, and 
critic of the school paper; French club, in charge of the French 
teacher, holding monthly meetings, combining social and 
literary activities; science club, in charge of two science 
teachers chosen by the club, its purpose being to arrange for 
lectures on scientific subjects and give exhibitions of the 
science work of the school to the patrons; boys' chess club, 
which arranged chess tournaments; airplane club, in charge 
of the head of the manual training department, engaged in 
making gliders and holding contests with other schools; and 
four class organizations, giving dramatic and other public 
entertainments, and taking charge of social affairs, sometimes 
including dancing. 

It will be noted that in a majority of cases the boys and girls 
were organized separately. This segregation came about natu- 
rally; the purposes and interests, being somewhat divergent, 
led to separate organizations. This is in keeping with the 
results of Dr. H. D. Sheldon's investigation, published in the 
American Journal of Psychology, which proved that boys 
and girls from ten to seventeen almost never spontaneously 
organize together. This is in harmony with what has already 
been said in an earlier chapter concerning the drawing apart 
of sexes during early adolescence. This tendency toward a 
separate organization does not preclude an occasional coming 
together by invitation, when one sex will put forth its best 
effort in the presence and for the entertainment of the other; 
these "open meetings" give what Dr. Hall calls "tonicity" 
to the work of both boys and girls. Further, teachers with 
experience know, as Dr. Sheldon indicates, that "girls are more 



226 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

nearly governed by adult motives than boys," an important 
point to keep in mind when dealing with the two sexes. 

As the names of these organizations suggest, all efforts along 
social lines in this school had in each case a very definite aim; 
there was no attempt to organize for purely social purposes 
or merely to have a good time. Thus the social activities were 
planned on the same principle as the high-school program of 
studies described in the preceding chapter; each aimed to ac- 
complish a particular, concrete thing; the training in social 
efl&ciency and the wholesome enjoyment were very important 
by-products, just as culture and mental discipline are the in- 
cidental results of the differentiated vocational curriculums. 
Social efficiency and culture, like happiness, come most surely 
to those who engage whole-heartedly in some form of useful 
activity. Seek first some definite worthy purpose, "and all 
other things shall be added thereunto." 

Teachers with experience are aware that difficult and delicate 
problems arise in connection with high-school social activities. 
Among these social dancing has come in for its share of trouble. 
It gives rise to one of those complex issues which many believe 
involve considerations affecting the physical, social, moral, and 
even religious welfare of both individuals and society. Dancing 
is preeminently an adolescent problem and involves nearly the 
whole psychology of youth. Nearly all students who have 
gone deeply into the nature of adolescence believe dancing to 
be one of the very best means of long-circuiting or sublimating 
the sex impulses, a safe way in which the secondary sex charac- 
ters may find expression, as explained in Part I. This is the 
exact opposite of the opinion held by many who have not ap- 
proached the subject from a scientific standpoint. Properly 
conducted dancing, with its musical accompaniment, is one of 
the most expressive languages of the emotions; and, as Hall 
says, tends to give ''nervous poise and control," producing 
harmony between feeling and intellect, "inoculating good 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 227 

states of mind and exorcising bad ones." On the physical 
side, it is an almost perfect means of coordinating the basal and 
smaller muscles, satisfies *'the motor needs of youth," and 
is "one of the best expressions of pure play;" hence, to nearly 
all who dance there results, much pleasure. There is the best 
possible training in the sense of rhythm; and "adolescence is 
the golden period of the nascency of rhythm." There naturally 
comes at this age a feeling for "the beauty of cadences." The 
present writer's experience with high-school dancing leads to the 
conclusion that it affords a splendid opportunity for pupUs to 
learn some of the habits of refinement and many of the ordi- 
nary formalities of polite society. The pupils are always on their 
best behavior and are most courteous in the dance room. The 
properly managed high-school dance gives incidental training 
in democracy, for no pupil should refuse to dance with another. 
The following sentences from an editorial in The Outlook 
expresses the present author's views: "There is nothing es- 
sentially evil in rhythmic motion to the accompaniment of mu- 
sic. To banish dancing from assemblies under the control of 
Christian people is dangerous. To prohibit dancing altogether 
is to run counter to nature, and is generally futile. To regulate 
dancing under proper guidance is both safer and more practi- 
cable." It is worthy of note that social settlement workers 
have always found dancing very helpful in their work, proving 
both socially and morally beneficial. Like other attractive 
forms of exercise that harmonize the physical and mental 
powers, school dancing has great possibilities as a means of 
training in future habits of enjoyment. It would appear from 
the studies of C. H. Sears that thirteen or fourteen (a little later 
for boys) is the ideal age to learn to dance in order to get the 
greatest educational value and pleasure; at this time there 
usually arises a special interest in dancing, indicating that cen- 
ters of rhythm and cadence are ripening. 
Although dancing for pupils of high-school age is desirable 



228 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

for all the reasons indicated, it is not urged indiscriminately on 
all responsible for the welfare of high-school pupils. Local 
conditions and especially local sentiment must determine what 
is best to do in the matter; a school cannot afford to run counter 
to the wishes of a large percentage of its patrons and thus lose 
their confidence and its influence. 

If social dancing is part of the training given by the school, 
there are a few matters connected with it that must have the 
attention of some competent member of the faculty: if young 
people outside of the school are invited, the invitation list must 
be carefully censored; no questionable forms of dancing can 
be allowed; there must be approved chaperons; it is some- 
times well to provide other forms of amusement for pupils 
who do not dance; an effort should be made to teach dancing 
to those who wish it; and, although it is difficult to bring about 
at an evening party, it is very desirable so to manage that all 
girls who wish may feel free to attend. To secure the greatest 
benefit for the school, many of the teachers must identify 
themselves with the dancing and encourage it with their pres- 
ence; if they are able to join in the dancing, so much the better 
for them and their influence in the school, dancing with the 
pupils being one of many ways that they may prove they are 
human beings as well as teachers. 

Amateur dramatics is another kind of social activity that 
brings much enjoyment and benefit, and, at the same time, 
gives rise to problems in high-school management. This form 
of pleasure can be made to connect more closely with the class 
work of the school. Like dancing, an opportunity for dramatic 
expression makes a strong appeal to adolescents; the youth 
naturally becomes dramatic, delights in assuming roles and 
poses, and wishes to try all forms of expression, especially when 
personalities and emotions are involved. Few doubt the edu- 
cational value of dramatic presentations. The poet Schiller 
says: "The stage is an institution combining amusement with 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 229 

instruction, rest with exertion, where no faculty of the mind 
is overstrained, no pleasure enjoyed at the cost of the whole." 
Dramatic work is a form of refined enjoyment that connects 
readily and naturally with the study of literature. The author 
has seen a second year high-school class derive much pleasure 
from the dramatization and presentation of A Tale of Two Cities. 
Scenes from worthy plays can be presented with much satis- 
faction and profit by pupils of the lower classes, and the two 
upper classes can each gain much by giving one play during 
the school year. Corson hopes to see the time when oral im- 
personation will be the only examination in literature. Besides 
the intellectual discipline that comes from serious effort at 
dramatic interpretation, acting affords a splendid opportunity 
to develop control and poise in the presence of spectators, 
qualities naturally lacking, as we have seen, in early adolescence. 
Planning and arranging the scenery and stage, and designing 
and making suitable costumes for a school play give opportunity 
for the cooperation of the art, manual training, and domestic 
art departments. Perhaps the rfiost helpful function of high- 
school plays is the way they relate the social life of the school 
with the community; if the play presented is well chosen, the 
school and its patrons are brought together for relaxation and 
amusement on a high educational plane. Thus the pedagogy of 
adolescence demands that an opportunity be given for the 
exercise of the dramatic impulses, and the school play is a 
legitimate means of academic and social training; but, like the 
other social affairs of the school, it must from the first be in 
charge of a competent adult with tact and judgment, and, when 
possible, with some skill in dramatics. Taste must be shown 
in choosing a simple, unpretentious play, free from improper 
suggestiveness and coarseness; the more fun the play contains, 
the better; for high-school acting the humor of the play 
should depend mainly upon frequent amusing situations, rather 
than upon the subtile forms of humor. Much skill and tact 



230 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

are needed in selecting the cast of characters. This can be 
done either by some competent teachers who know the tempera- 
ments of the candidates and their ability in oral expression, or 
by means of a "try-out" before the coach and a small committee 
familiar with the play chosen. For apparent reasons this is a 
matter that cannot well be left to the pupils. In doing the 
work connected with the presentation, advertising, and sale of 
tickets the services of as many pupils as possible should be 
enlisted; it gives a fine chance for training in business and in 
the habit of cooperation; and it is a sure way of securing general 
interest in the success of the undertaking. 

When one takes into account the great variety of habits, 
tastes, attitudes, ideals, and temperaments represented by the 
pupils of a public high school, with their extreme differences in 
culture and social training, as described in a preceding chapter, 
the question naturally arises, is it possible or desirable to hold 
the membership of all high-school organizations open to every 
pupil in the school. Most certainly it is; the constitutional 
regulations concerning membership must be such that any 
pupil uninvited may seek admission. The conditions on which 
membership may be obtained will necessarily vary with the 
fimction of the organization and the qualifications required 
for successful work in the organization. The deciding author- 
ity will sometimes rest with the faculty expert or coach, as 
in the case of membership in a musical organization or the 
various athletic teams; sometimes it will rest with a majority 
vote of the members; and sometimes the mere paying of a 
nominal initiation fee will bring membership. But the way is 
always open to all who can qualify, otherwise we have present 
the chief evil of the fraternities and sororities, and the principle 
of democracy is violated. In general the high school is the 
last chance for the widely differentiated social groups to be- 
come integrated and to learn to work with each other for a 
common and worthy purpose; and the many social activities 



SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 231 

and organizations of the modern high school supply the strong- 
est integrating forces that have thus far been devised, because 
all participants are actuated by a common and real motive 
and are anxious for a common and real outcome. 

The question also arises, shall credits be given for successful 
work in these extra-class activities. They require time and 
energy; they indicate real effort and skill and sometimes much 
ability in leadership; and they are admittedly the best index 
to future success; hence it is proposed in some quarters to allow 
certain credits toward graduation. This is wrong in principle, 
and there are surely many practical difficulties that will occur 
to any high-school administrator of experience. Much of the 
benefit and pleasure comes from the spontaneous and voluntary 
nature of the work. We should early learn that in many of 
the affairs of life it is the seemingly superfluous and unrewarded 
labor and the willingness to perform it that counts most. Em- 
erson did not insist on the principle of compensation for the 
things of the spirit. In the social life and organizations of the 
school we have ready-at-hand many kinds of opportunity 
for the pupils to render willing and loyal service, the kind of 
service that wholesome youth delights in and for which it is 
highly important that we provide training. 

Literary societies, debating, high-school journalism, athlet- 
ics, and pupil finance will each be discussed in separate chap- 
ters. The social activities advocated in this and the following 
chapters will not aid greatly in producing the conscientious 
book- worm; but, if the ideas contained in the newer education 
are based on sound adolescent psychology, and if the scientific 
studies and careful observations thus far made are not mis- 
leading, the things here discussed will do much toward devel- 
oping right social attitudes, habits of cooperation, ability for 
leadership, general social efficiency, and will aid greatly in 
establishing a real social democracy. < 



CHAPTER XII 
LITERARY SOCIETIES 

Adolescence is always seeking expression. Thoughts, emo- 
tions, and character are developing, that evermore publish 
themselves; happiness is dependent upon their finding suitable 
outflow. This is because adolescence is rich in content, and 
because it is social in its outlook. But, as has been pointed 
out in a former chapter, the power to appreciate naturally 
develops more rapidly than the power to express; and the 
multitudinous ingoing stimuli from all the vital and sense or- 
gans are extremely disturbing, and the speech centers are there- 
by thrown out of function. The difficulty is greatly enhanced 
in many cases by the high degree of self-consciousness that 
appears at this time and adds to the mental and emotional 
turmoil, making adequate expression for a time almost impos- 
sible; so youth naturally fails to "utter the thoughts that arise." 
Thus it would seem to follow that every possible avenue of 
expression should be kept open; recent studies by Thorndike 
and others have emphasized the law of individual variability; 
hence, if all are to have practice in expression, a great diversity 
of forms of expression must be provided. The extent to which 
this demand for many forms of expression is met constitutes 
one of the vital differences between the modern high school 
and the high school of the last century. 

A glance at the table of contents shows that a chapter is 
devoted to each of several forms of expression, — such as, the 
many social activities, debating, journalism, athletic games, 
and general assembly programs; and others might easily be 
added. But experience has shown that it is not practical to 

232 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 233 

attempt to provide an organization for every separate form of 
expression desired; and provision can easily be made for a 
great variety of work in general literary societies, the nmnber 
depending upon the size of the school. The following are some 
of the modes of expression that commonly find a place in the 
programs of a high-school literary society: — 

1. A discussion of current topics is always profitable to the 
speaker, and, when well presented, interesting to a youthful 
audience; the interests of youth broaden very rapidly during 
the high-school years. The habit of studying current history 
will always be an asset, and nothing will stimulate the forma- 
tion of this habit more surely than an opportunity to present 
the results of such study from a public platform. This phase 
of the society's work should be so managed as to encourage 
the forming of independent opinions on the part of the pupils, 
for this encourages independent thinking. Concerning the 
many public issues, there ought to be much honest difference 
of opinion, and each member must expect to defend his own. 
Sometimes this work on current events will take the form of 
reports on important public documents that all are not likely 
to read, such as, the president's mjessages, treaties, new laws 
of general interest, speeches by men in official positions, and 
state and national legislation that affects many people. If 
the greatest interest and most benefits are to be secured, the 
speaking on matters of current history should be largely ex- 
temporary. 

2. Several times during the school year a literary society 
may well place on its program reviews of recent books of in- 
terest to people of high-school age. The task of reviewing a 
worthy book should usually be assigned to one of the older 
members. The aim of the reviewer should be to create in his 
hearers either a desire to read the book, or to give complete 
satisfaction with the knowledge conveyed through the review; 
either purpose may be gained by means of a clear account of 



234 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the contents, combined with the effective reading oi portions 
of the text. A clear, fair, and interesting review of a good book 
is a rather difl&cult piece of literary work, calling for consider- 
able reading experience and broad views. 

3. Less ambitious but often more intensely interesting is an 
animated reproduction of a short story. The amount of 
material to be handled and the narrower range of interest lend 
themselves readily to a brief treatment. The interests of the 
society are usually best served when the program provides for 
the participation of several members; the reasons are too 
apparent to need stating. The short story with an excellent 
plot or the one that portrays an interesting character makes 
a strong appeal to all high-school pupils, while a story with 
an *' atmosphere" fascinates some of the older members. 

4. In nearly every high school there are a few pupils with 
real literary ability. The author has had the satisfaction of 
seeing some of these become contributors to our best magazines 
and writers of books listed among the best sellers. Such talent 
must not be allowed to perish by disuse. Pupils with taste 
and talent are always pleased to have an opportunity to cul- 
tivate their gifts and give the results of their efforts to their 
fellow-pupils. The literary society furnishes an appreciative 
audience, and the short story is a suitable vehicle by means of 
which young writers may express themselves. The stories 
that are well received may be given wider recognition in the 
school paper. It is true that the short story is an extremely 
difficult and delicate form of literature; but the qualities de- 
manded make it all the more stimulating to an ambitious boy 
or girl with literary tastes. 

5. The character sketch is another form of literary effort 
well fitted to the purposes of a literary program. This may 
vary in length from a single paragraph to a complete and fully 
developed essay; and there is no limit as to the people that 
may serve as subjects — pupils, members of the faculty, men 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 



235 



and women of the community, literary and historical figures. 
This form of composition is both profitable and interesting; 
and it stimulates close observation and vigorous thinking on 
the part of the writers. The name of the character portrayed 
may be withheld, skill in description being tested by the success 
with which those listening recognize the character described. 

6. There are worth while accomplishments that may be 
cultivated in a literary society, such as, the reading aloud of 
poetry (especially by girls), the effective reciting from memory 
of choice bits of literature, and the rendering of worthy pieces 
of orator>' by boys. If this kind of work is undertaken, some one 
must insist on naturalness of expression as the aim; no "elo- 
cution" should be tolerated. All kinds of music are acceptable 
and may well form part of every program, giving much satis- 
faction to both musicians and audience. Without doubt the 
form of expression that gives the greatest degree of pleasure 
is some kind of dramatics. Either short plays and farces 
or scenes from longer plays may be presented with much satis- 
faction; when the audience is confined to the members of the 
society, the play or scene may be put on with only a little coach- 
ing and simple costuming; screens will aid in extemporizing a 
stage. The more successful efforts will naturally find a place 
at general assembly. 

7. Much pleasure and benefit may be had from dramatizing 
and presenting some of the stories studied in the literature 
classes. Parts of Silas Marner have proved well suited to 
this purpose. One group of high-school pupils found a market 
for their manuscript after they had given the play with consid- 
erable success. This and the work recommended in the pre- 
ceding paragraph make a strong appeal to the dramatic in- 
stincts, which usually become very active during the high- 
school age. 

8. If sufficient debating is not otherwise provided, this may 
be made a feature of an occasional program, the question al- 



236 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

ways being one in which there is a Hve interest. For further 
discussion of this form of expression the reader is referred to 
the chapter on debating. 

9. Literary societies, as well as the other organizations, 
furnish a splendid opportunity for training in parliamentary 
law, something that nearly everyone will need after leaving 
school. It has been found profitable occasionally to give 
part of the program time to a vigorous parliamentary drill; 
usually the drill is conducted by a member of the faculty who 
is skilful in such matters. The experience of the charter mem- 
bers of the society in framing a constitution and by-laws is 
interesting and helpful and affords at the outset a chance to 
learn parliamentary procedure. In this initial work the pupils 
need considerable help and guidance. 

10. But all the forms of expression thus far mentioned are, 
in the opinion of the writer, unimportant when compared with 
that which should constitute the principal work of any literary 
society whose aims are practical. Judging from over twenty 
years' observation and experience, there is no extra-curricular 
activity more profitable to a high-school pupil than carefully 
organizing a speech on any subject of interest to the speaker 
and his audience, thinking it through a number of times, and 
delivering it in the most natural and effective manner possible. 
This form of training may be made an educational instrument of 
much potency; it provides vigorous exercise for the intellec- 
tual and emotional faculties; and it tends to establish effective 
habits of thought and speech. Vigorous extemporary speaking 
puts the speaker on his mettle as almost nothing else does; and 
it may be made to contribute much to his social and civic edu- 
cation. 

One's success in nearly any walk of life depends more than is 
generally realized on clear and full communication, the only 
sure exception being the one who leads the life of a hermit. 
For most people learning to speak well is a slow and frequently 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 237 

a discouraging process, especially to speak well before an au- 
dience; but there is hope for all possessed of ordinary mental 
endowments. In no field of effort is some degree of success 
more certain. "Whoever goes to his grave with bad English 
in his mouth," Professor G. H. Palmer asserts, "has no one to 
blame but himself for the disagreeable taste in his mouth." 
But it is highly important that the practice in public speaking 
should begin during the formative years of youth if the best 
residts are to be obtained; this for many reasons, the most 
important of which is that effective extemporary speaking de- 
pends on the formation and fixing of certain complex habits, 
habits of reacting that involve many elements that must always 
be coordinated. This is equivalent to sajdng that there must 
be much vigorous and carefully watched practice, as in the 
case of any other art. The instinct of communication in youth 
is so strong that it is likely to serve as a powerful stimulus and 
give real zest to the practice whenever a suitable audience is 
provided. 

We are wont to say, "no effective expression without clear 
and vigorous thinking," which is certainly true; but, thought 
and expression are so closely interrelated and react so definitely 
on each other, that we may well say, no clear and vigorous 
thinking without some form of clear and forceful expression. 
Thought kindles the fires of expression, but these in turn set up 
counter-currents which intensify and clarify the thinking. This 
is readily noted in the thinking of any one much practiced in 
vigorous extemporary speaking; the thoughts of a Burke grow 
and fulfil themselves as his periods proceed, so that every 
sentence and every paragraph spontaneously tends toward a 
natural climax; there is an unfolding due to the interaction of 
thought and expression; the relation is causal, but there is a 
continuous interchanging of cause and effect. The very act of 
expression sharpens the thinking and enriches the thought. 
Thus extemporary public speaking, which usually makes more 



238 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

vigorous demands than any other form of expression, is justified 
on purely intellectual grounds and claims a place as an educa- 
tional tool. 

It is also worthy of note that perhaps no other kind of per- 
sonal skill or power is more durable than the ability to give 
effective oral expression to one's thoughts. Instead of lessen- 
ing this power, advancing years often give rise to a richer, 
fuller, and more discriminating style of speaking; many of 
the masterpieces of the world's oratory were spoken after three 
score and ten years had been reached. Youth, beauty, health, 
and often wealth fail; but the power of verbal expression is 
ours as long as the intellect lasts. All that is needed to call 
it forth is a suitable subject and a great occasion with an ex- 
pectant audience. Youth must be given the opportunity and 
be encouraged to lay hold on the things that endure. 
■ These appear to be some of the major reasons why a high 
school should, through its literary societies and in every other 
way, provide for much training and practice in platform speak- 
ing. But there are mmierous by-products worthy of consid- 
eration, three of which may be mentioned: (i) the pupil that 
is frequently called upon to give public expression to his ideas 
and beliefs must be constantly in search of new information 
and consequently will accumulate stores of knowledge and 
opinions worth expressing; (2) no better means has yet been 
found of enlarging the effective vocabulary of the high-school 
boy or girl, and everyone who has listened to the speech 
of the average high-school pupil is aware of the urgent need of 
assistance in, this matter; and (3) perhaps most important of 
all is the effect that successful oral expression has upon written 
expression, the power and skill in oral speech never failing to 
carry over into the written style. During the past fifteen 
years, teachers of English composition have become aware of 
this relation of the two forms of discourse, and they have al- 
most unanimously turned to "oral themes" as the most effec- 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 23.9 

tive means of giving tone and spontaneity to the written 
work of pupils; and all the recent experiments testing the 
effect of oral expression on written expression tend to prove 
the wisdom of this practice. Much training in oral English 
has been found a sure cure for bookish English; and oral 
expression naturally stresses the content rather than the form, 
an important consideration in all kinds of expression. The 
findings of EngHsh teachers in this matter agree with the 
teachings of literary history; Palmer reminds us that book 
times have been decadent times, while talking times have 
been glorious. 

The first consideration relative to the work here urged is the 
choice of subjects upon which to speak. Recent discussions 
and practice seem to stress content rather than form in all 
lines of high-school English; and this is especially important 
as applied to extemporary speaking. Nearly everybody natu- 
rally speaks with enthusiasm and consequently with anima- 
tion on any topic that is of vital interest to him. Judging 
from the list of subjects for "essays" found in the older books 
on rhetoric, this never seems to have occurred to the authors; 
or, if they were conscious of this principle, they were ignorant 
concerning the real interests of boys and girls of high-school 
age. The subjects suggested were usually literary or such as 
an adult with considerable life experience might enjoy discuss- 
ing. In general it may be taken for granted that almost any 
topic with real human interest will stimulate the young 
speaker, provided it is not too diflacult for him to master thor- 
oughly. Whenever possible, the inexperienced speaker should 
choose a theme relative to something within his own personal 
experience or observation. The effect of first-hand contact 
with any matter under discussion is always evident in public 
speakers; their words have a truer ring, their thoughts naturally 
fall into a more effective order, and the voice comes forth with 
tones that are reassuring and convincing. Emerson once said: 



240 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

"I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has lived, 
through the poverty or splendor of his speech;" and again, 
"Life is our dictionary." "Only so much do I know, as I have 
lived." The young speaker cannot well forego the advantage 
in point of manner and expression that comes from first-hand 
knowledge and experience, for so much depends in the mastery 
of any art on a correct beginning. In this case it is all impor- 
tant at first that there be spontaneity, suitable emotional tone, 
and a feeling of satisfaction. Hence the precept for the young 
speaker, speak concerning those things of which you know per- 
sonally. The speaker's personal knowledge should of course be 
enriched by reading and conversation; for there should be no 
limit to his sources of information, provided proper credit is 
given and provided the language and organization are original. 
The following rather loose classification of topics suitable 
for high-school pupils is only intended to be suggestive; an 
attempt is made to arrange the topics according to the probable 
interest of the younger speakers, (i) School affairs and activi- 
ties. If the school is making the proper appeal to its pupils, 
this group of subjects clearly stands first in interest; and it 
has the advantage of being always new, for both the school 
activities and the pupil-group are ever changing. When the 
society programs draw liberally from this class of topics, there 
are at least two very important by-products, (a) The dis- 
cussions are likely to be very illuminating to those in authority 
provided they have ears; and (b) a natural means is furnished 
for shaping and crystallizing school sentiment on many matters 
vital to the welfare of the school. As Bagley says, "ideas must 
be emotionalized to serve as conduct controls," and public 
speaking is a natural means to the desired end, because based 
on a fundamental instinct and sure to engender "emotional 
force." (2) Social life. As we have seen repeatedly, all forms 
of social life are making a strong appeal at this time, and topics 
drawn from this source are naturally of deep interest to high- 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 241 

school pupils and hence stimulating as subjects for public dis- 
cussion, Emerson assures us that, '^we have social strength. 
Our affections to others create a sort of vantage or purchase 
which nothing else will supply." When a social subject is 
chosen and we provide an audience situation, we take advan- 
tage of the strong adolescent social instincts; and the youth 
may be able to say to others what he could not first say to 
^^himself. This class of subjects is very numerous. (3) Leisure. 
Because of the pleasant associations, topics furnished from the 
leisure part of one's life are agreeable and interesting, and they 
tend to stimulate enthusiasm on the part of a speaker. They 
have a gratifying emotional setting, namely, enjo3anent. The 
discussion of topics of this kind can readily be made to contrib- 
ute to the esthetic education of pupils and to stimulate the 
formation of habits of harmless enjoyment. (4) Vocational 
subjects. Young people of high-school age, especially boys, 
are beginning to think of the different callings with reference to 
their own likes, dislikes, and natural aptitudes; because of 
broadening interests and budding altruism, they are thinking 
more than ever before about the world's work. The ready 
interest in this matter has been clearly apparent in the many 
attempts during recent years to give high-school pupils aid in 
choosing a vocation. Determining their life work becomes 
with some of the pupils an affair of serious moment; what they 
have to say on such a subject is consequently carefully thought 
out and is likely to be genuine and natural. (5) Subjects of 
general public interest. The talk that high-school pupils hear 
concerning current events begins to make a new appeal, con- 
sequently they are easily interested in the daily newspapers 
and the standard magazines, in which current history is re- 
corded. Topics drawn from this source furnish very profitable 
subjects for extemporary speaking; and the range of subject 
matter is so wide that the interests of all can be met. Perhaps 
recent inventions and discoveries furnish the most engrossing 



242 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

subjects for a certain type of boy. Pupils often tend to special- 
ize on one line of inventions or discoveries and enjoy giving a 
series of speeches; flying machines furnished one boy with 
subjects for his part of the programs of his literary society dur- 
ing a whole year (he had made a complete biplane, except the 
engine) ; another gave many speeches on the latest inventions 
pertaining to automobiles; both always spoke with enthusiasm 
and animation and never used notes. (6) School subjects. Some 
of the high-school subjects are now so rich in content that 
they supply a limitless source from which to draw. This is 
especially true of science, history, biography, agriculture, and 
manual training. This group of subjects is placed last because 
they do not generally make as strong an appeal to high-school 
pupils as do the everyday matters suggested first. The degree 
of interest in this class of subjects depends largely on the per- 
sonality of the teachers and the manner of attacking the sub- 
jects. As we should expect, the use of topics from the school 
subjects always reacts favorably on the regular work of the 
classroom. 

The choice of such subjects as are here suggested tends to 
prevent all attempts at old-fashioned oratory. These topics 
do not lend themselves to the dignified, formal orations with 
which the ambitious youths of the old academies were wont 
to regale their teachers and admiring parents and friends; those 
stilted and flowery efforts of the early time, whose only effect 
seems to have been to inculcate artificiaHty and set up false 
standards, do not flourish in an atmosphere of concrete, prac- 
tical, human, everyday affairs. Among these less ambitious 
topics can always be found material within the ability of the 
high-school pupil. His speeches need not lack real content; 
he tends to express himself naturally and interestingly concern- 
ing those things of which he knows; and it is only in this way 
that there can be ingrained right habits of thinking and speak- 
ing. At all times the individual should, as far as possible, 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 243 

live liis own life and speak his own thoughts; and, that public 
speeches may be formative in their influence, they must con- 
cern those things which really touch the lives of the speakers. 
Public speech naturally generates that emotional warmth which 
tends to make ideas formative. But the youthful speaker 
must be aided in making both his life and his thoughts worthy; 
and skilful adult guidance in extemporary speaking will con- 
tribute to this end. 

When pupils have learned to confine their efforts to subjects 
that really interest them and are within their ability, many of 
the discouraging difficulties are forestalled. As in other arts, 
the greatest care is needed during the initial stages of the learn- 
ing process. However, there are certain natural dangers grow- 
ing out of an extreme ambition on the part of either the young 
speaker or his critic to make sure of a correct beginning. As 
Professor G. H. Palmer has pointed out, "There is something 
enervating in conscious care. Necessary as it is in shaping 
our purposes, if allowed too direct and exclusive control, con- 
sciousness breeds hesitation and feebleness. Action is not 
excellent, at least, until spontaneous." Neither learner nor 
teacher must expect, or even seek, absolute correctness in either 
delivery or linguistic form. There are such things in public as 
well as in private speech as wholesome blunders when these 
protect us against the patience-trying, tedious, studied pick- 
ing-and-choosing of every word and phrase that suggests the 
pedant. No one is persuasive or greatly moving who is con- 
sciously fastidious and fussy about his language or his pronun- 
ciation. Oral speech to be effective must have a certain dar- 
ing and dash about it. The critic can aid the beginner in this 
matter by stressing the content rather than the form, by creat- 
ing as far as possible a real problem or issue, and by helping the 
learner to keep in mind the viewpoint of his audience. The 
youth who has his eye on his subject and is determined at any 
cost to carry his point with his hearers naturally warms to his 



244 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

task and is not in great danger of being overnice touching 
matters of mere form and voice. 

But this giving of the reins to the young speaker, as here 
advocated, does not mean that we are to allow him to form 
awkward or distracting habits of speech or delivery, nor that 
we should shut our eyes to his mannerisms, which are sure to 
accompany him through life unless some one is kind enough 
persistently to point them out. Few are aware of their own 
bad habits of speech, and no one is conscious of his own manner- 
isms; some one must assist, and the earlier the help comes, the 
more effective it will be. Some of the most common manner- 
isms and awkward habits to make their appearance are the 
following: a variety of meaningless sounds (usually vowel 
sounds) with which speakers fill the pauses between their 
sentences, resting the weight continually on one foot, leaning 
on some object that happens to be at hand, placing the hands 
in all sorts of unnatural positions, a restless movement of the 
eyes, peculiar tricks of inflection, fussing with one's notes or 
other objects. These tricks and habits are largely due to 
self-consciousness at the beginning, but, if not broken up, they 
quickly become fixed and will interfere with success. Perhaps 
the most annoying and at the same time most persistent is 
the one first mentioned. It is surprising how many people in 
both private and public mar their otherwise effective speaking 
by the introduction of noises (often unpleasant in themselves) 
between their sentences and phrases. The young speaker 
must be taught to keep still while he frames his next thought; 
it is a case where ^'silence is golden." A real pause may give 
the effect of thoughtfulness and deliberation and thus aid in 
securing close attention, whereas the empty sounds suggest 
lack of preparation and concentration. This is a habit or 
mannerism that frequently calls for vigorous treatment to 
knock it out of the young speaker. The other disturbing 
tricks and habits usually disappear when the speaker's atten- 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 245 

tion is called to them and his initial embarrassment has been 
overcome by practice. 

All this emphasizes the thought that there must be much 
practice under immediate supervision. Many recent experi- 
mental investigations into the best ways of acquiring skill in 
almost any line support this principle. In the author's opin- 
ion, the criticism both favorable and adverse is most profitable 
when given in the presence of the whole society. If ordinary 
tact is used in emphasizing as many good qualities as possible, 
the members will not object to a frank and sincere pointing 
out of their faults, especially when this has become an under- 
stood "order of the day." All good athletic coaches practice 
the open form of criticism. 

Next in importance to having something worth while to say 
comes organization of ideas. In this part of the preparation 
all beginners need help at times. An outline or "brief" is 
an almost indispensable mechanical aid to clear and logical 
thinking. If the work of the literary society includes extempo- 
rary speaking, as here urged, some one should give at least a 
little instruction in putting the points of a speech in tabular 
form; this part of the work should not stop with a mere list 
of the topics to be treated, but should include the arranging 
of all ideas to be used as topics and subtopics; that is, the 
written organi^tion should be completely logical, exhibiting 
the main points and the degree of relevancy of the subpoints. 
This greatly aids close and logical thinking, which in turn tends 
to produce an effective and cogent delivery. The brief or 
notes should always be prepared but not much in evidence 
during the speech. Young speakers may be allowed to use 
notes but not to lean on them heavily; and they should look 
forward to the time when they are able to go confidently to 
the platform without their carefully prepared written organiza- 
tion. This stage in their development is reached after consid- 
erable experience, and it means that the speech must be thought 



246 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

through many times. This does not imply framing and mem- 
orizing all the sentences; the ability to write, memorize, and 
deliver a speech has its use, but the occasions for extemporary 
speaking are much more numerous, and, from the standpoint 
of utility in dealing with real issues, much more important. 

It will be noted that nothing equivalent to a complete course 
in public speaking is proposed. The training in extemporary 
speaking here suggested as the chief work of a high-school lit- 
erary society can be supervised by any well-educated teacher 
who is interested in effective oral speaking and in the welfare 
of high-school pupils. In the foregoing modest plan it has 
simply been urged that the speakers be encouraged to select 
as their subjects something concrete concerning which they 
have real interest and feel that they can interest their audience, 
that they make a vigorous effort to arrange their ideas in a log- 
ical and effective order, that they subordinate their personal 
interests to those of their hearers by always having the view- 
point of their audience in mind, that they eliminate as rapidly 
as possible all mannerisms and awkward habits of position and 
delivery, that they cultivate a clear, persuasive, and animated 
manner of speaking, and that they have at all times the benefit 
of frank, sympathetic, tactful criticism. 

If a literary society is to be helpful in any large way to its 
members, the number must be limited, for the benefit derived 
is clearly dependent upon the amount of actual practice that 
each member is able to get. The membership should not ex- 
ceed twenty-five or thirty; the author's experience is favorable 
to even a smaller maximum. The larger the membership, the 
less individual responsibility and the smaller amount of time 
for each member on the platform. The constitution, by-laws, 
and organization should be very simple. The business part 
of the meetings should generally be brief. Other interests 
should not be allowed to interfere with the regular meeting. 
Group consciousness, which is necessary to the highest efficiency 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 247 

of any organization, can sometimes be intensified by an occas- 
sional event of a purely social nature, such as, a party, a hike, 
a breakfast together in the country, or a marshmallow roast. 
Although the purpose is the cultivation of skill in written and 
oral expression, the vitality and success of a literary organiza- 
tion of any kind will depend more than we are likely to realize 
on the degree of social spirit which permeates all its activities; 
the reasons for this fact have frequently appeared in the earlier 
chapters. 



CHAPTER XIII 
DEBATING 



In our study of the physical changes which form the basis 
of adolescence, we found that the brain increases rapidly in 
complexity. Many collateral neurons develop, the extending 
fiber processes ramifying the central nervous system; seemingly 
new cells and brain tracts become active; especially do the 
higher associative areas of the cortex exhibit new energy. Con- 
sequent upon this structural development, we found new 
thought functions appearing: a desire and capacity for inde- 
pendent thinking, a critical attitude toward things and ideas 
that had always been taken for granted, an increasing ability 
to deal with larger and more complex ranges of thought, a 
growing enjoyment in the use of the reasoning powers, and an 
increasing interest in the organization of ideas. 

However, in the early adolescent period we found that the 
power to think and understand outstrips the ability to express 
and explain. This lagging behind of the power of expression, 
especially in the boy, gives rise to embarrassment, tending 
temporarily toward an anti-social attitude. This minimum 
skill in utterance seems to be a case of instrumentalities and 
energy developing faster than the power to use them. But 
this "dumb bound" period of early adolescence is quickly 
followed by the self-assertion and self-reliance character- 
istic of middle adolescence when the youth, who naturally 
enjoys a contest, extends his efforts to verbal combats; he is 
soon inclined to lock horns intellectually with almost any one; 

248 



DEBATING 249 

as Hall says, "disputation is a higher vent for the new zest 
for conflict." 

At the same time these new intellectual tendencies and powers 
appear, the youth, as has been pointed out, is developing larger 
social interests and thinking about a wider range of topics and 
tackling larger problems. Now, according to modern educa- 
tional psychology, there is but one inference that can be drawn 
from the above data: here are new instincts, tastes, and powers 
making their appearance; they must be given a chance to 
function normally and develop to their greatest capacity; 
they must not perish by default; the pugnacious instincts com- 
bined with the new desire to reason and argue must be given 
scope and turned to account. 

To all of this there is pretty general assent. But disagree- 
ment begins on the how. No one denies the importance of 
exercising the reasoning and organizing powers of the mind on 
worthy material; but with respect to the method of doing this 
there is still considerable variance of opinion among the ex- 
perts. Perhaps the means that most definitely divides opin- 
ions is the ordinary high-school or college debate, a form of 
intellectual exertion that certainly gives much satisfaction to 
the youthful participants. In the usual debate, the disputant 
has the double satisfaction of publicly expressing his ideas and 
opinions with reasons and of attempting to convince others 
to accept them; it appears to be a natural form of adolescent 
self-assertion. Yet there have been many objections raised 
to debating, especially as a form of high-school training. It is 
claimed that, as these debates are carried on, there are serious 
intellectual, moral, and social dangers, in that the usual high- 
school debating develops "superficiality, insincerity, and un- 
moral and anti-social tendencies." It is charged by thoughtful 
people that debating does not encourage an impartial study of 
important questions, but, on the contrary, that it tends to de- 
velop the ability and desire "to talk glibly." If these are just 



250 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

criticisms, then certainly high-school debating must be con- 
demned as an unwholesome and dangerous method of exercising 
the rapidly evolving reasoning powers of adolescents. It 
is the purpose of this chapter to state <-he functions, describe 
the methods, and discuss the possible dangers of high-school 
debating; the reader will judge whether, as set forth, debating 
is a desirable educational procedure and worth the time and 
effort involved. 

II 

More than twenty years' experience with high-school debat- 
ing, including both debating clubs and interschool debates, 
leads to the conclusion that the intellectual and moral dangers 
that are supposed to accompany debating do not obtain, pro- 
vided the efforts of the pupils are skilfully directed by an adult 
who is enthusiastic about the work and is aware of the evils 
to be avoided. As in the case of the athletic and social activi- 
ties of adolescents, the one in charge must understand the na- 
ture of the participants and have some knowledge of the thing 
to be done; without the latter, he will fail to be helpful and 
lose the confidence and respect of the pupils; without the for- 
mer, he will not be sure to avoid the evils and dangers incident 
to the work. Thus the whole matter of eschewing harmful 
influences and realizing the possible benefits here, as in the 
other activities, is an affair of proper management on the part 
of some member of the faculty. 

What are the purposes of high-school debating? From the 
viewpoint of adolescent psychology, as already intimated, 
one of the purposes is to exercise and cultivate the germinating 
powers of the mind at the right time in their development; 
otherwise, as Dewey asserts, "they tend to be transitory, to 
die out, or to wane in intensity." During preadolescence the 
span of thought has been very limited; now that the rapidly 
developing reason is beginning to knit the mental centers into 



DEBATING 251 

a higher unity, there must be provided much material and 
many opportunities for the exercise of these higher and broader 
powers of thought; and it can be shown that formal debating 
is one way in which this can be done. This seems clear when 
we consider what is involved in the preparation for and the 
participation in a debate on a worthy subject under proper 
conditions. 

In nearly all of his work on the regular subjects of the cur- 
riculum as ordinarily managed, the pupil is told pretty definitely 
what to do and how to do it; this is what constitutes good lesson 
assignments. In a certain sense the resulting performance is 
decidedly passive. It is true that the pupil is expected and 
under skilful teaching is encouraged to think, but naturally 
it is thinking within definitely prescribed limits and on definitely 
supplied materials. This kind of training is needed and has 
its place in a complete educational scheme. But very differ- 
ent in kind is the effort expected of the debater. He is not 
usually told what to read. He is merely given a proposition, 
the truth of which he is to investigate by any means possible 
and prepare to convince others of the validity of his findings. 
It seems to be a case of carrying a message to Garcia; he is 
given the message and he must by his own initiative and judg- 
ment discover a means of carrying the message. This seems 
much like the requirements of life outside the schoolroom, the 
requirements of intelligent action and good citizenship. 

In preparation for a debate there is a constant need of adapt- 
ing means to ends. As he reads, all is not fish that comes to 
the debater's net; he must constantly discriminate, and this 
means training in the power to evaluate, a power on which 
the successes in life depend. In the usual assigned lessons 
of the text-book, the pupil passively attempts to master and 
use all the material; in reading for a debate, his judgment 
is always in action; his ability to reject material not suited to 
his needs is just as important as his ability to retain and apply 



252 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the ideas used to support his contention. This implies clear- 
headed foresight. The success of a debater depends most of 
all on his power of analysis. He must be able to resolve the 
question into its component parts and discover where lies 
the real issue. This is a difficult process for the youthful 
thinker, but he enjoys making the effort, for it gives scope to 
his newly evolving powers. Lincoln's remarkable success in 
debate was due almost entirely to his power to analyze and to 
discover the central thought of any question with which he 
had to deal. Careful preparation for a debate certainly exer- 
cises this power most vigorously, hence aids in developing it. 

While the debate is in progress valuable personal qualities 
are demanded: the successful debater must have the poise 
which is based on a high degree of self-control; he must develop 
that confidence which results from a thorough mastery of the 
issues involved; he must courageously "stand by his guns;" 
and he must acquire that quickness of judgment which comes 
from the habit of vigorous concentration, the ability to see 
things in their proper relations. There is surely no way to 
cultivate these highly desirable qualities except by use; and 
debating at its best gives full scope for all of them. 

But debating is a difficult art, as all who have watched the 
efforts of high-school pupils know. There are many mistakes 
and faults common to debaters of this age. Any one who has 
worked with them is often reminded of Junius' description of 
the dispatches of Lord Hillsborough: "We have strong asser- 
tion without proof, declamation without argimient, and violent 
censures without dignity or moderation; but neither correct- 
ness in composition nor judgment in design." Lack of "judg- 
ment in design" we should expect; for a wisely planned and 
well sustained piece of argumentation is difficult and requires 
considerable maturity of mind. But it is not so readily under- 
stood why high-school pupils that have mastered geometry 
should mistake mere assertion for proof. Whatever the 



DEBATING 253 

explanation, the youthful debater is prone to believe that his 
opinion, especially when well expressed and sonorously rendered, 
contributes toward the winning of his debate. It would some- 
times seem that he becomes so enamored of his own ideas and 
his own voice that he naturally sees no need of any further 
evidence on the points in question. The simple lesson that 
debating consists in proving or at least trying to prove is the 
first that nearly all young debaters must learn. The knowledge 
that assertion is not proof is a valuable intellectual asset, which 
only a few mature minds appear to possess. The one who guides 
the efforts of high-school pupils in debating must expect fre- 
quently to call attention to the simple fault here discussed, 
and often much firmness is needed to root it out. 

Again, it is naturally very difficult for a debater of high-school 
age to maintain a fair-minded attitude toward his subject and 
toward his opponents. The utmost skill and firmness are 
demanded of the one directing the work to impress upon young 
debaters that common courtesy and honesty exact this, and that 
failure in this matter is sure to lose the sympathy and respect 
of both the audience and the judges. The debater must learn 
by observation and experience that very often the simplest and 
most direct statement of a case is the strongest, for it carries 
with it an impression of fairness and justice which makes a 
natural appeal to all listeners. He should, as far as possible, 
assume the attitude of a seeker of truth rather than an advocate. 
This means that the spirit of mere contentiousness cannot 
be allowed to develop, and that anything corresponding to the 
"trick play" in football tends to antagonize both audience 
and judges. The young debater is often tempted to depend 
upon an unexpected interpretation of the question or some far- 
fetched and ridiculous ways of combining his opponents' ar- 
guments. These and like quibbling devices often have a charm 
for the young speaker, for they exercise his ingenuity and appeal 
to his desire to do the unusual; but he must be taught that 



254 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

audiences are never greatly moved by such oratorical jugglery, 
and that decisions are usually based on something more sub- 
stantial. The debating team is a splendid place to learn that 
anything that gives the appearance of mere smartness always 
militates strongly against one's influence. In general, the 
debater may soon learn that anything artificial, trifling, or 
sophistical is very unprofitable and has no place in the serious 
business of life. Moreover, debaters must be made to see 
that anything in the nature of a trick or an evasion has an ele- 
ment of meanness in it and will be so viewed by the audience, 
hence that it is not in the interest of either success or honesty 
to pervert the facts involved in the debate. Is it not possible 
that these requirements for successful debating just mentioned 
may aid greatly in the work of engraining important moral 
traits in our adolescent debaters? 

Nearly all leaders in secondary education have much to say 
concerning the school's activities and the methods employed 
that tend to develop leadership; for it is to the high schools, 
as well as to the colleges, that we must look for training in 
leadership. Closely following the self-reliance of middle ado- 
lescence come qualities that naturally make for leadership; 
these make their appearance ordinarily at the age of seventeen 
or eighteen. There is no doubt in the minds of many who have 
given thought to the matter that debating brings to light another 
class of leaders than athletics and scholarship. The follow- 
ing testimony on this point, quoted by Professor E. C. Robbins, 
is from the dean of a well-known law college: "Some of my 
students go down to the football field, and for a brief time the 
papers are filled with accounts of their achievements. Then 
they graduate and go away. Scarcely ever again do I hear or 
see public mention of them. Other of my students enter the 
field of debate. For the time being it seems as if their rewards 
were less than those of the athlete. Then they, too, graduate 
and go away. But, as the years pass, I continually hear pub- 



DEBATING 255 

lie mention of them. Some are guiding the work of towns and 
cities in which they Hve. Others are occup5dng judicial posi- 
tions of honor and responsibility. Still others are in the polit- 
ical arena. I read of them urging reforms in state legislatures. 
Their voices resound in the halls of Congress. As governors 
of states they are holding in their hands the destinies of many 
people. It is the high-school and university debaters who in 
after years take an active part in the work of the world." 

But all safe and enduring leadership is based on the ability 
to do and secure "teamwork." Cooperation is the modern 
pass-word to achievement. As was indicated in Chapter III, 
one of the characteristics of late adolescence is the desire to 
cooperate; hence many high-school pupils of seventeen or 
eighteen are ripe for training in all forms of cooperation; and 
it can be shown that successful debating, like athletic games, 
depends very largely on teamwork. After the debaters have 
read widely and systematically on the question and have done 
their most vigorous and independent thinking, the results of 
all their efforts must be worked into a comprehensive whole, 
the unity of which is understood by every member of the team. 
This requirement of successful debating distinguishes it from 
all other kinds of intellectual contests. The debater is com- 
pelled to make his part of the argument contribute toward the 
establishment of the one main issue of the question as inter- 
preted by the joint efforts of the team; and he must, at every 
stage, make his audience see clearly the relation of his work to 
that of his colleagues. The debater must continually heed the 
injunction, "Act well your part, for there the honor lies." 

These are some of the benefits and this would appear to be 
the kind of training that high-school pupils may derive from 
properly directed work in debate. But, as J. G. Holyocke has 
affirmed, " the supreme advantage of debate is that it compels 
a man to think. A man is not a man unless he is a thinker — he 
is a fool, having no ideals of his own." The high-school pupil 



256 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

who has done the constructive and persistent thinking neces- 
sary to successful debating, who has been compelled by the 
nature of his task to study a proposition from every possible 
point of view, is not very likely to make overhasty general- 
izations and draw sweeping conclusions, for he has learned by 
experience the penalty that may be exacted for such a viola- 
tion of the laws of thought. 

The conditions of successful debating, both during prepara- 
tion and when the debate is in progress, are such that the de- 
bater i? constantly forced to the limit of his ability; he is en- 
gaged in a conflict of such a nature that a single serious blunder 
in his thinking is pretty sure to mean failure; and red-blooded 
youth has always loved and been stimulated to the utmost 
by some form of conflict. The supreme effort involved in 
thinking long and hard on a subject under the stress of conflict 
naturally toughens the brain fibers and extends and develops 
more fully the net-work of nerve processes which underlie all 
logically constructed thought. Moreover, the youth who has 
gone through a well-fought debate on any important question 
and has exhausted all the resources within his reach will readily 
realize how shallow is his knowledge of other subjects. 

Ill 

Unfortunately, debating, like other forms of contest that 
make a strong appeal to the adolescent, involves both mental 
and moral dangers, some of which have already been intimated. 
How are these to be avoided? The answer is the same as that 
concerning the dangers that naturally accompany social and 
athletic activities. The adolescent, like the youthful Tele- 
machus, constantly needs a skilful and sympathetic adult 
counsellor, and experience urges strongly that the mentor in 
this case, as in athletics, be a member of the faculty. The 
welfare of the individuals and the success of the undertaking 
as a whole depend almost entirely upon the kind of person that 



DEBATING 257 

is chosen as faculty adviser. It is easy to name the necessary 
qualities, but the combination is not always easy to find. It 
should be some one interested in young people and their efforts, 
willing to give considerable time and effort, somewhat familiar 
with the principles of debating, able to give sympathetic and 
intelligent constructive criticism, skilled in the psychology of 
suggestion, and aware of the educational and social value of 
debating. Much firmness is often needed on the part of the 
adviser to discourage superficiality and loose thinking and to 
stamp out youthful proneness to raise mere verbal issues and 
indulge in glib talking. "It is a calamity to be able to talk 
glibly upon any subject." Further, if there is to be debating 
against other schools, common honesty and a knowledge of 
what constitutes fair dealing in such matters are fundamental 
reqiiisites to guard the youthful disputants against both men- 
tal and moral harm. 

To the one willing to undertake this interesting work, if in- 
experienced, the following suggestions may be helpful: — 

The author believes it is a great mistake for pupils to under- 
take to meet other high schools in debate unless they have had 
considerable practice; such an undertaking is likely to lead 
to an oratorical contest with three speakers representing the 
school, instead of a real debate; and the temptation to certain 
dishonest practices on the part of both the coach and the de- 
baters is very great. It is usually found that the most effec- 
tive way to secure and sustain interest and effort in debating 
is to organize some kind of a club or society whose main pur- 
pose is practice in debate. Adolescents, as we have seen, natu- 
rally find satisfaction in almost any form of organization; 
they profit by conforming to parliamentary law and the con- 
stitution and by-laws of such an organization; as Hall observes, 
they are frequently "great sticklers for rules and technicali- 
ties." Considerable benefit comes from the experience of draw- 
ing up a simple constitution and by-laws and getting them 



258 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

adopted, provided the pupils take an active part in the pro- 
ceedings. The authors of nearly all the books on debating 
seem to have in mind interschool debating; whereas the pres- 
ent writer is strongly of the opinion that intraschool debating 
is by far the most important part of the work; it is free from 
many of the dangers of interschool contests, and an unlimited 
number can participate. It will be noted that much of what 
is said in the following paragraphs applies especially to regular 
debating within the school. 

Who shall be members of the debating organization? Ex- 
perience would seem to prove that better work is done by both 
boys and girls when they are segregated. The charter members 
are naturally the boys or girls of the school who are anxious to 
gain experience in debating; and these are likely to be the more 
serious-minded pupils that are willing to make a real effort. 
Because interest and ability in argumentation usually appears 
in middle adolescence, the membership will naturally be drawn 
from the two upper classes of the senior high school, with an 
occasional mature pupil from a lower class. The members 
must be impressed with the necessity of care in choosing new 
members; both the members and the school in general should 
feel that membership in the debating society is an honor. As 
a result of considerable experimenting, it is recommended that 
a pupil must be approved by the faculty adviser and secure a 
two-thirds vote in order to gain membership. Unless the mem- 
bership is carefully guarded, it is very difficult to maintain a 
high standard of work. Constant care and influence on the 
part of the faculty adviser should be exercised to keep the mem- 
bership thoroughly democratic; any pupil of ability who is 
really interested in debating and willing to work should be 
able to gain admission. The number of members must be 
Hmited by the constitution, otherwise the opportunities for de- 
bating will not be sufl&ciently frequent; twenty or twenty-five 
has been found very satisfactory. The basis of membership 



DEBATING 259 

here recommended does not interfere with the development 
of much good fellowship and the enjoyment of occasional func- 
tions of a purely social nature. The best debating organiza- 
tion with which the author has had experience comes together 
two or three times a year for this purpose, also gives one dance 
in the name of the society. The year always ends with a 
formal dinner, at which the members gain experience in after- 
dinner speaking. 

Perhaps the next in importance to a competent adviser and 
a carefully constituted membership is a suitable time for hold- 
ing the regular meetings. The time must be such as to make 
possible a full attendance at all the meetings. The ideal is 
some hour within the school day; this is easily arranged in 
high schools where an hour or two a week is set apart for 
the meetings of all the organizations of the school. Where 
this plan is not in force, it has been found most satisfactory 
to hold the meeting in the early evening, with insistence on 
prompt opening and closing. Immediately after school is 
certainly not a suitable time, as the members are not in a men- 
tal condition to do vigorous work or to enjoy the meetings; 
moreover this is the time when nearly every pupil should be 
engaged in some form of physical activity. Experience proves 
that the best results will be secured when the regular meetings 
occur weekly; and nothing except the closing of the school 
should be allowed to interfere with these weekly meetings. 
The faculty adviser or his representative should be present at 
all the meetings. It is assumed that the reasons for the above 
suggestions are readily apparent. 

The most important of the standing committees that the 
constitution will provide for is the one responsible for the pro- 
grams. The questions chosen for debate should usually per- 
tain to present-day topics; and they should be questions that 
are really debatable. In the selection and statement of ques- 
tions the committee occasionally needs help. The number of 



26o HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

debaters placed on the program depends upon the length of 
time allowed each speaker; the custom is two or three debaters 
on a side. The time allowed for the constructive speeches is 
usually from seven to ten minutes. The members on the pro- 
gram are expected to prepare fully and make a sustained effort; 
and this kind of an effort requires at least seven minutes for 
each disputant. The debate should always be the principal 
part of the program; however, interest in the meetings may be 
increased by one or two literary or musical numbers; a weekly 
talk on current history has proved very satisfactory in some 
debating organizations. Singleness of purpose is just as im- 
portant in a debating club as elsewhere. 

Unless the English department of the school furnishes the 
necessary training, the faculty adviser will need to give instruc- 
tion in the matter of reading and note-taking, selecting and 
organizing material, analyzing the question and determining 
the main issue. Suggestions will be needed concerning the 
fallacies to be guarded against in one's own debating and de- 
tected in one's opponents, such fallacies as, hasty gener- 
aUzation, arguing in a circle, arguing from false assumptions, 
arguing from ambiguous evidence, and unwarranted assumption 
of causal relations. Nearly all of this instruction can best 
be given in connection with the regular debates as they occur. 
The function of the faculty adviser is at least two fold: to give 
inspiration and encouragement, and to be always ready with 
thorough constructive criticism. The author has long been 
in the habit of following every debate with an open and frank 
criticism of each speaker on the program; and this weekly 
criticism affords the best possible opportunity to supply from 
time to time the needed instruction concerning the principles 
and art of debating. Both the debaters and the other members 
who have listened to the debate have before them a concrete 
example of the points with respect to which instruction is given; 
this is clearly an inductive method of approach and ought to 



DEBATING 261 

be the most effective, since the matter in hand is something 
to be done. From the nature of the case the debaters are al- 
ways in a receptive mood. If ordinary tact is used, the crit- 
icism may, if needed, be very severe. Besides pointing out 
fundamental faults concerning organization of material, meth- 
ods of attack, honesty in handling material, and presenta- 
tion, the criticism should include slovenly enunciation, habits 
of false inflection and emphasis, and mannerisms of all kinds; 
in brief, all bad habits of speech which will in the least inter- 
fere with effective speaking. It will be understood that ad- 
verse criticism must not be crowded on the young debater 
faster than he can make use of it. However, he must under- 
stand from the first that successful debating involves much 
more than a mere marshaling of logical arguments; he must 
realize that it is his business to present his arguments in a 
manner that will cause others to think and feel as he does about 
the question under discussion. This he is not likely to do effec- 
tively by reading a manuscript, however well it may have been 
prepared. Nothing must come between the speaker and the 
people whom he is trying to persuade, for they must think only 
of his arguments and their application to the question. This 
means that the speaker must be natural in manner and voice, 
generally deliberate rather than rapid or nervous, persuasive 
rather than aggressive, dignified rather than dramatic, spirited 
and vigorous when the thought requires it but not violent; and 
his voice should be forceful, expressing earnestness and feel- 
ing, but not loud. 

Anyone responsible for the work of young debaters soon learns 
that his chief function is to so guide their efforts that real de- 
bating will be the result rather than speech making on the 
affirmative and negative sides of the question; and this is equiv- 
alent to saying that much attention must be given to the whole 
matter of rebuttal. The debaters should early learn that 
the foundation for effective rebuttal is a relatively full knowl- 



262 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

edge of both sides of the question, together with much think- 
ing so directed as to lead to a complete and clear analysis of 
the same. Only a little thought on the part of the reader is 
necessary to realize that this is most wholesome both intellect- 
ually and morally, and that it is a natural safeguard against 
the dangers that are supposed to be involved in formal debat- 
ing when indulged in by young people. Generally debatable 
questions suitable for high-school pupils have been so thor- 
oughly discussed publicly that the debaters on both sides can 
anticipate all the arguments of their opponents, hence they 
are able to determine rather definitely beforehand both the 
material and the methods that may be used most effectively 
in refutation; there is seldom any excuse for surprises in this 
matter. Under no circumstances can a debater afford to ig- 
nore the case of his opponents. Generally the most effective 
kind of rebuttal is to show how one's constructive arguments 
refute the essential arguments of the other side; that is, a skil- 
ful debater can sometimes turn his whole constructive speech 
into rebuttal, and this is always very telling and gives rise to 
real debating. To accomplish this it is sometimes necessary 
to rearrange one's whole speech, and this demands considerable 
resourcefulness on the part of a young speaker; but resource- 
fulness is one of the qualities for which we are striving when 
we are giving our time to training high-school pupils in debate. 
The most common weakness of young debaters in the matter 
of rebuttal is that their efforts are scattering and trivial, con- 
sisting often of brief, sarcastic remarks on each of the opponents' 
arguments. As Foster says, ^'In refutation debaters usually 
gain in spirit and fall off in substance." This form of weakness 
can be overcome, if, as a result of careful analysis of the question, 
the debater anticipates the argiunents of his opponents and 
directs his efforts to meeting only the essential points; it should 
be an affair of undermining the opponents' whole fortification 
rather than much sharp-shooting. This is possible only after 



DEBATING 263 

a rather deep and broad view of the question has been obtained, 
a difficult thing for high-school pupils to get, but a worthy and 
stimulating form of effort. As Dr. Hall suggests, when the 
pugnacious instincts are developing there is a charm in point- 
ing out the fallacies of one's opponents and making these fal- 
lacies appear as flagrant as possible; it is one of the arts of 
self-defence; it turns debating into a game; it emphasizes the 
conflict features; consequently the adolescent's instinctive 
desire effectively to flay his opponents naturally stimulates 
him to make the supreme effort necessary to gain a deep and 
broad view of the question if he is made to realize that this is 
the only sure way of accomplishing his purpose. If the high- 
school debater repeatedly learns by experience that nothing 
less than an understanding of the underlying principles involved 
in the question will lead to thorough and effective rebuttal, 
he is doing much toward learning how to study problems in 
a scientific way and toward establishing highly desirable mental 
habits and attitudes — habits and attitudes the opposite of those 
which the critics of debating charge against it. 

If debating is as valuable a school exercise as its advocates 
believe it to be, and if it stimulates the participants to do much 
constructive and independent thinking, the question naturally 
arises as to the justice and advisability of giving school credit 
for this work. Fortunately, when the work is directed with 
the same degree of skill and enthusiasm as successfully managed 
athletics, the offering of credit is not necessary to induce pupils 
to attempt debating, nor is it needed to secure their best efforts. 
Because of the social element in debating, because of its appeal 
to the ripening powers of reasoning, because of the adolescent's 
instinctive fondness for some kind of formal contest, and, per- 
haps most of all, because of the assurance and real benefit 
which the debater feels that he is gaining, in nearly any high 
school of seventy-five or more there can be found a sufficient 
number of pupils to make debating enjoyable and worth while, 



264 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

regardless of credit. Much of the satisfaction that comes 
from voluntary work in any line is due to the very fact that it 
is voluntary; and young people cannot learn too soon that it 
is the seemingly superfluous work that leads to greatest ul- 
timate success. Hence it would seem, from the standpoint of 
benefit derived or from any consideration of necessity, that 
debating may be carried on successfully without any thought 
of graduation credit; but, on the other hand, from the stand- 
point of justice to the pupils, it would seem equally clear that 
credit may be given and counted as part of the required work 
in English if a reasonable plan is worked out for measuring 
the amount of credit allowed. 

The author has found the giving of credit practicable in the 
case of interschool debating. After the teams have been chosen, 
if a member of the faculty keeps closely enough in touch with 
the reading that the debaters do and the amount of effort put 
into analysis and organization, there is little trouble in deter- 
mining the amount of credit that can be justly allowed. When 
possible this is best managed by having the teams meet daily 
with their faculty adviser for a class period and report to each 
other on their findings. This insures continuous progress, 
encourages full consideration of both sides of the question, and 
furnishes the machinery for cooperation. In this daily dis- 
cussion the debaters learn from each other, both by suggestion 
and by an open-court method of evaluating, all the arguments 
on both sides. It has been found advantageous to hold these 
daily discussions for a few weeks before deciding which side of 
the question the debaters are to take. 

IV 

With the exception of the last few sentences, this chapter 
has dealt entirely with intraschool debating, whereas nearly 
all other books seem to focus on interschool debating. This 
form of contest is not necessary to the interest or success of 



DEBATING 265 

debating within the school; in fact, debaters should reach a 
considerable degree of skill and confidence before attempting 
to represent their school against another school. A careful 
consideration of the objections and criticisms charged against 
debating leads to the conclusion that the objectors generally 
have in mind interschool debates; and the tendencies to the 
dangers and evils of interschool debating are greatly reduced 
when the pupils are carefully trained and are somewhat skil- 
ful; for they have "learned to do by doing" and the tempta- 
tion to seek or receive illegitimate help is greatly lessened. Al- 
though interschool debating is not necessary to the success of 
school debating, as in the case of athletic games, a strong in- 
centive is furnished when a young debater can look forward to 
the possibility of sometime representing his school in debate; 
and in some parts of the country interschool debating is still 
in vogue, notwithstanding the immoderate amount of effort 
that is devoted to some of the rival forms of interschool con- 
tests. 

The dangers and evils growing out of interschool athletics 
are so numerous and the temptations are so great that in many 
states there has been developed an elaborate set of rules and 
regulations, with a view to preventing or at least lessening the 
evils incident to these contests. In like manner, some of the 
chances for misunderstandings and some of the temptations 
to use unfair means can be reduced by some form of agreement 
between the schools that meet in debate. Experience has 
proved the following regulations, or their like, to be helpful. 

All temptation to take advantage or quibble in connection 
with the statement of the question for debate will be forestalled 
if each school furnishes both a negative and an affirmative team. 
This stimulates everybody concerned to choose a debatable 
question and to formulate a clear and fair statement of the 
proposition. It is the custom to bring this about either by 
arranging a dual debate (each school sending a negative team 



266 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

to the other school, the affirmative team debating at home) 
or by arranging a triangle debate (school A sending a negative 
team to B, B to C, and C to A). This latter plan has a few 
unimportant advantages. It is extremely desirable to have 
teams working on both sides of the question, and either of the 
above plans accomplishes this. 

There should of course be a clear understanding with respect 
to the time allowed for each speaker, the number and order of 
rebuttal speeches, and the nature of the speeches allowed as 
rebuttal. Concerning this last point, it is a common practice 
to limit rebuttal to refutation of alleged facts and to attempt- 
ing to show how the facts, principles, and arguments already 
presented affect the arguments advanced by the opposing team; 
that is, all new material and arguments of a constructive nature 
are excluded from the rebuttal speeches. 

It is also in the interest of fairness that all testimony quoted 
in support of either side be confined to public documents or 
books accessible to all parties. For many reasons experience 
has proved that it is best to exclude the use of private letters 
from the debate. 

It is usually agreed that both the organization of the speeches 
and the language in which the arguments are expressed shall 
be the work of the pupils. This is naturally a difficult agree- 
ment to interpret and enforce. As in athletic contests, nearly 
everything depends upon the honesty and correct ideals of the 
faculty member in charge of the work. 

There should be a definite understanding, too, as to the form 
of instruction to the judges. This is suggested as having proved 
satisfactory: "Consider only the merits of the debate (not of 
the question). You are sole judges of what constitutes effective 
debating, and whether the debating agreement has been vio- 
lated during progress of the debate, discrediting any violation 
as the case seems to warrant." At the close of the debate 



DEBATING 267 

each judge should hand in an ''affirmative'* or "negative" 
vote without conference. 

Perhaps the most difficult matter to arrange in a fair and 
satisfactory way is the method of securing judges. Sometimes 
very elaborate codes of rules are drawn up in attempting to 
regulate this part of the procedure; but all schemes that have 
been tried seem to have proved objectionable in some feature. 
The least troublesome and apparently most satisfactory plan 
is an arrangement whereby the public speaking department 
of some near-by college or university is asked to furnish the 
judges; this usually results in trusting the decision of the de- 
bate to rather young and inexperienced men who have them- 
selves been successful debaters. Another method is the ex- 
change on a fixed date of lists of people that the schools propose 
as competent judges; each school is given the privilege of strik- 
ing out the names of all persons to whom there is any objection; 
then the revised lists are returned, and the judges are selected 
from the names remaining. This plan frequently proves trouble- 
some in practice. Whatever method of selecting is employed, 
care must be taken to avoid inviting any one that is especially 
interested in either of the competing schools. 

When interschool debates are conducted in a spirit of fair- 
ness, much interest and benefit results. Besides reacting fa- 
vorably on the debating within the school, the participants are 
naturally stimulated to make a supreme effort both in prepara- 
tion and in delivery; interschool relations other than those 
based on physical prowess and skill are established between 
the competing schools; and the attention of the pupils of the 
schools is drawn to other than purely physical attainments. 



CHAPTER XIV 
HIGH-SCHOOL JOURNALISM 

Shall the high school edit and publish a paper? Many 
principals and faculties that have answered this question in 
the affirmative have later regretted their decisions. This 
fact suggests that there are real and frequently troublesome 
problems involved in the managing and pubhshing of a high- 
school paper; but this should not greatly influence the answer 
to the question. Whenever many people are to be dealt with 
and cooperation secured, and whenever the nature of the thing 
to be done, because of the large human element and the volun- 
tary character of the work, makes rules and regulations un- 
desirable, we must expect that there will continually arise many 
dehcate and sometimes disturbing problems. If the thing is 
worth while from the standpoint of the people most concerned 
and the means are available, there is only one right decision. 
The advisability of starting a school paper depends upon the 
size of the school and whether there is a competent member of 
the faculty ready to imdertake the work. It is usually found 
difficult to maintain a paper in a high school with less than one 
hundred and twenty-five pupils. 

When a high school is too small to publish and support a 
school paper, it is often well to arrange with the editor of the 
local paper for space to be used by the school, either in report- 
ing the happenings of the school or in publishing some of the 
best work in English. The writing should be done by the 
pupils and revised when necessary by a member of the faculty. 

Many school papers have been started because of the momen- 
tary enthusiasm of a small group, or on account of the whim of 

268 



HIGH-SCHOOL JOURNALISM 269 

some one who naturally likes to try something new; such papers 
are little more than playthings, are almost certain to fail of 
their purpose, or will be discontinued after a few issues. Both 
pupils and faculty must realize from the first that there is a 
sustained effort to be made and considerable work that must 
be done on time; but it is a kind of effort that, when properly 
directed, brings satisfaction and much real benefit to the school 
and those who do the work. The paper supplies another means 
of expression, and boys and girls find satisfaction, as we have 
seen in our study of adolescence, in nearly every form of ex- 
pression. 

What then are the functions of a high-school paper from which 
come the benefits to the pupils and the school? When written 
and edited by the pupils and supervised by the faculty, the 
paper furnishes a natural means of unif)dng the purposes and 
the sentiments of the school. A school paper can be made to 
do this through its editorial columns, which should always be 
written by the pupils who have at heart the welfare of the school 
as a whole, and who, because of their age and standing among 
the pupils, have influence; however, the subjects for editorial 
discussion may often be suggested by members of the faculty. 
The paper should be a means of stimulating proper school pride 
and school loyalty; this it can do in many ways but especially 
by treating in a magnanimous way all interschool events. The 
paper should reflect the spirit and sentiment of the school, 
but these only at their best. The community in which a public 
school is located is ready to be interested in all that happens 
in the school, for the school belongs to it; hence the paper 
will do much toward keeping the patrons informed concerning 
school affairs and interested in the welfare of the school. Oc- 
casionally it may be well for members of the faculty to contrib- 
ute, with a view to moulding opinion aright and making the 
pupils feel that the teachers are with them in everything worth 
while. Perhaps the functions of the school paper, so far as 



270 HIGH-SeHOOL PROBLEMS 

the school as a whole is concerned, can be best summed up by 
saying that it is one of the social influences of the school, some- 
thing that both pupils and teachers will speak of as "our." 

But it is simpler and more direct to discuss the functions of 
any phase of the school's work from the standpoint of the in- 
dividual pupils; every effort must justify itself by meeting 
their needs and interests. There are two principal ways in 
which a high-school paper can be made to benefit the pupils: 
(i) it furnishes a splendid means of training in responsibility, 
for those connected with it know that the whole school and the 
community are depending upon them to render this form of pub- 
lic service; (2) it furnishes the most natural and best possible 
motive for the pupils to cultivate the art of written expression, 
for they must think of something worthy and interesting to 
say and then find an effective way of saying it; it is a pleasure 
for most people to record their observations and experiences, 
and it is always an incentive to see the result of one's effort in 
print and know that friends and others will read it. 

The teachers of the English department have found the 
school paper very helpful. The school life, with its great va- 
riety of interests and activities, is always rich in subjects that 
appeal: there are the basket-ball and football games, so full 
of interest and excitement at every turn and so important as 
to their results in the minds of the pupils, that furnish the best 
of material for vivid narrative and description; there is the 
school mass meeting or rally to be written up, so that the readers 
who were not present will learn all that happened and get the 
spirit of the occasion; there should always be new things of 
interest going on in the laboratories and manual training shops, 
those closely watched experiments and those ambitious proj- 
ects in wood or metal; there is the school or class party, old 
to the experienced faculty, but ever new and appealing to 
the pupils, that must be described so that it will lose nothing 
in the telling; there are the science trips and the hikes of the 



HIGH-SCHOOL JOURNALISM 271 

physical training department, wMch combine pleasure and 
instruction in such a simple and natural way, and the patrons 
of the school are pleased to know about them; then there are 
the hotly contested debates with a near-by rival school, and the 
spirit of the occasion and the efforts of the young debaters must 
be reproduced. All these topics are turned to use by the re- 
sourceful teacher of English composition; some of them will 
supply material for paragraph writing, and others will serve 
for more sustained efforts. Occasionally the teachers will 
suggest that an original and well- written piece of regular school 
work be given a place in the paper — a short story, a vivid 
description, or a character sketch. Then there are more possi- 
bilities than are generally realized in the writing of the little 
personal and local items. These may be treated in a way that 
is commonplace and becomes monotonous, or they may be 
made spicy and occasionally given a touch of humor. One of 
the well-known and successful writers of present-day fiction 
began by writing the ''personal and local" column for her high- 
school paper during her senior year; the way the work was 
done led to her employment on the local daily which printed 
the school paper; and this in turn led on to better literary 
opportunities. All of the work on the school paper is of a so- 
cial nature and gives opportunity for cooperation and responsi- 
bility. 

All who have had experience know that a high-school paper 
gives rise to many problems, and it is the purpose of this chap- 
ter to discuss some of them. The problems naturally fall into 
two classes, — those that have just been under consideration 
and may be called Uterary, and those connected with the cost, 
printing, and circulation of the paper and may be called bus- 
iness problems. This twofold division is usually recognized 
in the creation and organization of the staff, by means of which 
responsibility is fixed in a business manager and a chief editor. 
The first thing to be done, when it has been decided that the 



272 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

school will publish a paper, is to choose the two pupils best 
fitted to fill these positions; the success of the enterprise will 
depend very largely on the leadership and skill of the pupils 
selected. Many ways of choosing have been tried; everything 
considered, it seems best to allow the entire school to elect 
these two heads by first casting a nominating ballot, then elect 
from the two or three receiving the highest number of votes. 
This method is democratic, and it places the responsibility 
where it belongs. It may be well in some cases for members 
of the faculty to draw attention in an unofficial way to certain 
pupils that appear to have the qualities needed for the respec- 
tive positions; but, according to the author's experience, the 
pupils are usually the best judges of one another's abiHty. 

As soon as these two heads are elected, they should meet with 
the faculty adviser and appoint their assistants. The business 
manager needs at least two assistants, one to be responsible 
for the subscriptions and circulation and the other to arrange 
all matters connected with the advertising carried by the paper. 
The editor-in-chief should have ten or twelve helpers; the 
larger the number, the better the division of labor and the more 
pupils benefited. Something like the following is a usual ar- 
rangement of assistant editors: one general assistant to take 
part of the work that generally falls to the editor; personal 
editor, who is responsible for all news concerning pupils and 
teachers; literary editor, whose duty it is to cooperate with 
the English department of the school and secure contributions 
from the pupils; athletic editor, who is interested in and un- 
derstands the various games played by the school; four class 
reporters, whose business it is to gather all the news pertain- 
ing to their respective classes and turn it over to the proper 
editor; editor of humor, who is to see that each issue of the 
paper is well supplied with the amusing incidents of the school 
and other humor worthy of the paper; alumni editor, to keep 
informed concerning the graduates of the school and report all 



HIGH-SCHOOL JOURNALISM 273 

matters of interest; exchange editor, who shall secure ex- 
changes with other school papers, read them, and comment 
on them for the benefit of the pupils, who in some way should 
have access to these exchanges. An art editor may be added 
to the list, whose duty it is to cooperate with the teacher of 
art and make or secure from the pupils suitable cuts for the 
various departments of the paper and if possible furnish an 
occasional illustration. 

The first meeting of a new staff is very important, and should 
be attended by the principal, as well as the teacher who is to 
act as adviser and critic. At this meeting will be determined 
the size, cost, and appearance of the paper, how often and when 
the paper will be issued (a majority of high schools publish 
monthly), and matters of general policy. After each issue 
there should be a meeting of all the editors and the faculty ad- 
viser to make plans for the next issue. Very definite assign- 
ments of work should be made to each editor; it is important 
for the welfare of the paper that all the copy needed be handed 
to the chief editor at a definite time. It is always a great ad- 
vantage to those responsible to have more copy than will be 
used, as this gives a chance to choose the best, relieves worry 
about shortage of copy, and gives more freedom in the arrange- 
ment of the forms in the printing office. Inexperienced pub- 
lishers usually underestimate the quantity of copy that will 
be needed. It. will be found necessary to give each new staff 
definite instructions relative to the preparation of copy for the 
printer and the marks used in proof-reading. 

In the meantime the business manager and his assistants 
must bend every energy to put the paper on a sound business 
basis. The subscription price of the paper must be carefully 
fixed after a study of all the conditions (usually about one 
dollar per year), and a vigorous campaign for subscriptions in- 
stituted. The campaign may be opened by a carefully planned 
effort at general assembly, when the plans and needs of the 



274. HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

paper will be explained, and everything possible done to arouse 
enthusiasm for the enterprise. When the meeting has reached 
its climax, every pupil is given a chance to subscribe; a sub- 
scription from every pupil cannot be secured. This meeting 
should be followed immediately by a canvass of the alumni 
and townspeople for subscriptions. With the exception of 
some of the alumni who will have to be written to, nearly all 
the subscriptions should be secured in three or four days. The 
subscription money must be collected promptly, as the first 
issue of the paper must be paid for from this source. When the 
number of subscribers is known, the advertising manager will 
secure, if possible, advertisements enough to occupy about 
one-fourth to one-third the space. In presenting the proposi- 
tion to the business men of the town, he should be able to show 
them that his paper is a good advertising medium because of 
the people who read it; it is not business-like to ask for "an 
ad to help the paper along." If the work is done on sound 
business principles, a school paper furnishes splendid business 
training. The rate for advertising should be carefully worked 
out, the advertisers taking the larger amounts of space re- 
ceiving better rates. No "special rates" should be given, and 
the rates should remain fixed throughout the year. It will 
greatly aid the manager in his work if he secures from his ad- 
vertisers a large number of year contracts, the contracts stat- 
ing the amount of space taken and the price paid. Sometimes 
the price is estimated in inches and sometimes in fractions 
of a page, an average rate being about twenty-five cents an 
inch. 

A simple but adequate system of accounts for both the cir- 
culating and advertising managers should be devised at the be- 
ginning; and these accounts should be audited once a month, 
otherwise serious trouble may arise, as the present writer knows 
from very embarrassing experiences. It is the custom to give 
every advertiser a copy of each issue in which his advertisement 



HIGH-SCHOOL JOURNALISM 275 

appears. If there is more than one competent printer in the 
place, the contract for printing the paper should be given to 
the lowest bidder; the printers who wish to figure on the job 
are furnished with duplicate memoranda respecting the size 
of the paper, the kind of type, and the quality of paper to be 
used. A receipt should be given without fail for all money 
received for subscriptions and advertising, the corresponding 
receipt stub showing clearly the amount received; the money 
collected should be deposited promptly in a local bank and all 
bills paid by check. The reasons for these precautions are 
discussed in a later chapter. 

The fate of the paper, especially during the first year, will 
depend largely upon the judgment, tact, and leadership of 
the faculty adviser. The qualities needed are practically the 
same as are required for the management of any of the other 
social activities of the school ; if to these is added a little expe- 
rience in publishing, the work will be likely to go more smoothly 
and with less waste of energy. 

Any one who has had experience with pupil publications will 
anticipate certain weaknesses natural to youth and will guard 
against the consequent troubles. He will expect the pupils 
to exhibit the best of intentions but considerable poor judg- 
ment and taste: they will have to learn news values; they 
will sometimes wish to print items that might injure the feel- 
ings of some of their readers, because of their undeveloped 
appreciation of other people's viewpoint, and because of their de- 
sire to make the paper spicy; and they will frequently want to 
make insinuating references to personal happenings known 
only to a little group, because they are anxious to get a joke 
on somebody. It will be found, too, that the average high- 
school pupil's sense of humor is not always trustworthy, but 
that it needs training. It will be necessary frequently to re- 
mind the members of the staff that the paper is to be read by 
many outside the school, hence that much care must be taken 



276 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

not to color matters in such a way as to give a wrong impres- 
sion of the school and its management. 

While constructive criticism of the school is always whole- 
some, the teacher in charge may find it necessary to inform the 
pupils outside the staff of the difference between true criticism 
and mere unpleasant fault-finding. Criticism of the efforts of 
the editors should be confined to those pupils who have already 
made a successful contribution to the paper and have thus 
earned the right to speak with authority in the matter. 

For all this work the adviser will need patience. It will be 
advantageous often to sit down with the young writer and care- 
fully explain why changes in his copy are necessary. Adoles- 
cents, as we have seen, are not naturally amenable to arbi- 
trary or dogmatic treatment; their opinions and personalities 
must be respected. 

The work of editing and publishing a high- school paper at 
times may seem discouraging, since the members of a new staff 
must be trained each year, and they will repeat the mistakes 
and show the same indiscretions as those of previous years. 
However, something can be done toward establishing and fos- 
tering good traditions for the paper; and this will make the 
adviser's task somewhat easier. 

In nearly any high school it will be found that the pupils 
are willing and often anxious to undertake the publication of a 
paper, because youth is continually seeking new forms of ex- 
pression, is naturally optimistic, and the pupils have no way 
of knowing the difficulties involved; but the final decision 
concerning the launching of a school paper must come from 
some one on the faculty who is willing to pay the price in time 
and energy; if such there be, remuneration will come in the 
same way that all efforts for the welfare of young people are 
compensated. 



CHAPTER XV 
ATHLETICS 



Whatever notions one may hold concerning high-school 
athletics, whatever misgivings about the unalloyed benefits 
and educational values one may have, and whatever aversion 
one may feel to the added responsibility growing out of their 
control and management, athletics we have and will continue 
to have, hence, one of the high-school problems. The adoles- 
cent boy that comes to us must have action of some kind. As 
Prof. Fiske of Oberlin expresses it, "The breath of life is in his 
nostrils. Red blood is surging in his veins. He is impatient 
at overmuch talk on any subject, when the impulse to do things 
and to dare things, the impulse for activity, adventure, and 
danger is tugging at his heart strings." If the school does not 
provide the form and quality of action that his nature craves, 
he will find the ways and means, and often to his detriment, 
and sometimes at the sacrifice of the good name of his school 
and the peace of mind of the teaching staff. 

The attitude of high-school faculties toward athletics, as 
toward social activities, in most places, has passed through 
three stages of development: (i) Opposition on the part of 
school authorities existed nearly ever3Awhere fifty or sixty years 
ago; this was in the "good old days" when the only aim of 
the schools was to inform and train the intellect; at this time 
athletic games were, not only thought of as an interference with 
the real work of the school, but they were viewed as a positive 
evil and not allowed in connection with the school. However, 

277 



278 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

there were in those days many "student pranks" of a very 
unpleasant nature to deal with and occasional outbreaks calling 
for the most drastic action by the authorities. (2) The next 
stage may be called the period of toleration without control. 
Principals and teachers began to realize that the boys would 
organize and engage in athletics regardless of whether they 
were given permission. Interscholastic contests were arranged 
and managed by the boys and other irresponsible people. The 
situation became extremely discouraging because of the con- 
ditions which developed, and the frequent disgraceful occur- 
rences on the athletic field; there was trouble about "ringers," 
trouble with the incompetent or unfair officials, trouble with 
the too partisan spectators, and trouble about finances. (3) 
The final stage of development, which has overcome nearly 
all the difficulties, may be called one of cooperation; the school, 
the teachers, and the contestants work together on all the 
problems, and the results have come to be generally satisfac- 
tory. Most of this chapter will be occupied with a discussion 
of ways and means of successful cooperation. 

II 

From the viewpoint of this book, the psychological aspect 
of high-school athletics is most interesting and important. In 
early adolescence the boy is living over again the feudal period 
of history when chivalry was one of the best characteristics 
of the race and when personal loyalty to some hero controlled 
the will. The boy's ideals now are alertness, shrewdness, 
skill, and the other feudal virtues. In middle adolescence, 
the age that finds most of the boys in the senior high school, 
the youth is repeating the period of the constitutional monarch; 
his thinking and his doing are characterized by self-assertion, 
gradually changing into cooperation; and the progress of his 
will-development is marked by his degree of self-reliance, gained 
through struggle of some kind. His ideals now are individ- 



ATHLETICS 279 

uality, resourcefulness, good fellowship, and other manly qual- 
ities. When all these characteristics are translated into terms 
of modern athletics, and when the coaching is in charge of com- 
petent young teachers with high ideals concerning physical and 
moral development, it is easy to perceive how significant for the 
welfare of the individual and how rich in possibilities for the 
upbuilding of standards in the school the whole matter of ath- 
letic training becomes; and the recapitulation theory of devel- 
opment proves very suggestive. 

The reader does not understand the nature of adolescence if 
he fails to realize the powerful influence for good or for bad 
(often mixed) that almost any form of organized athletics de- 
manding teamwork may become. The reflex of pleasure and 
satisfaction is so intense that it amounts to almost intoxica- 
tion. Systematic gymnastic drill has an advantage in that it 
may result in the most symmetrical physical growth and devel- 
opment, and exercise in the form of work brings to maturity 
many desirable moral qualities; but vigorous play makes the 
strongest kind of appeal to the whole soul and body. The 
proverb, "man is whole only when he plays," suggests the vital 
unity of soul and body that results from the enthusiastic and 
absorbing participation in social games. For the various 
forms of athletics, as Dr. Hall expresses it, "the pulse of 
adolescent enthusiasm beats highest;" and- we must remem- 
ber that "play is always and everywhere the synonym of 
youth." Athletic sports make .this powerful appeal, not 
only because they give an outlet and satisfy the strong crav- 
ings of youth for intense physical and mental activity, but 
because, according to GuHck, the best games are made up 
of muscular coordinations which were early and long useful 
to the race and thus involve racially old elements and 
awaken deep basic emotions. This explains why games 
that have made the strongest appeal have always been com- 
posed of the same "underlying neuro-muscute activities" 



28o HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

and have had the same ''psychic content;" it is a case of phylo- 
genetic muscular and psychic history repeating itself. 

It must be borne in mind that whatever activities are entered 
into with zest and enthusiasm, absorbing the whole being, be- 
come significant for the individual at least for the time being 
and hence are the most powerful formative influences. It is 
well to remember, also, that the character-forming influence of 
athletics, like other influences, when deferred too long, will fall 
far short of producing normal results; for, as has been shown in 
an earlier chapter, there is a time and sequence of development 
of the nerve areas and fiber extentions which must not be ig- 
nored; activity must follow nature's intention and "fulfill the 
law of nascent periods." Fortunately, in most cases, the 
instinctive interests of youth are found to be our best guides 
in this matter; and his indulgence in sports is not an expendi- 
ture of non-productive energy, as some have asserted, but, on 
the contrary, it is a most highly productive process, resulting 
in the development of physical, mental, and moral qualities 
extremely valuable to both the individual and society. 

In discussing the effects of athletics, the development and 
training of the motor centers naturally come first. Muscle 
training is always a brain-building process. Plato preferred 
ignorance to knowledge that does not develop the motor side of 
our nature and give self-control. For Hall, "will action is the 
language of complete men and the goal of education," "and 
sound ideas rest on a motor basis." Now, the motor centers 
may be trained by work, which is always prompted by some ob- 
ject to be attained without any reference to the effect upon the 
individual, or by mere exercise, which aims to develop physical 
health and strength, or by pure play, which is instinctive and 
comes in response to a craving for activity. However, both 
psychology and experience tell us that the quaUties of motor 
development resulting from competitive games are very differ- 
ent from those derived from either exercise or work. Compe- 



ATHLETICS 281 

tition, with its social setting, especially for the adolescent, is 
necessary to call forth the utmost effort; and this effort becomes 
"an erethic intoxication," causing the tension needed for the 
complete flushing and enlarging of the blood vessels and for 
bringing into action the nascent fibers and cells, which would 
atrophy if not used and irrigated. When maturity is reached 
the possibility for complete development has passed. The 
adolescent must play for his ''second breath," a phenomenon 
characteristic of the period, if the deeper sources of his power 
are to be reached and the highest motor development attained. 
It seems to be analogous to the toughening and refining of the 
oak's fibers which result only from the strain and violence 
of a hill-top exposure to the fiercest winds. Then, too, there 
is a subtile quality that enters into the motor developments 
of the athletic field, due to the mere pleasure that naturally 
accompanies the motor discharges impelled by social motives; 
these impulses and emotions, largely social in their origin, have 
a wonderful toning effect on the whole process, giving, not only 
a better immediate result, but tending to become permanently 
associated with any form of vigorous motor discharge. More- 
over, the exigencies of all strenuous games, the continuous 
necessity of meeting the unexpected, tends to develop in the 
motor centers the greatest possible flexibility and readiness to 
respond to immediate surroundings in an effective way; and, 
best of all, much of this motor control and skill, through 
repeated use, is turned over to the reflex centers to be used in 
later life in all sorts of emergencies, so that there results a per- 
manent asset in the form of greatly increased motor resource- 
fulness. In brief, the body becomes an effective organism. 
All this motor development is possible only when the proper 
games are played and at the proper time to comply with the 
law of nascent periods. 

, But the qualities of a more purely mental nature that may be 
matured on the athletic field are also worthy of serious atten- 



282 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

tion. All writers on these matters call attention to the Greek 
system of education in which all physical training was for the 
sake of mental training, the two never being thought of apart. 
With the Greeks a sound, well-developed body implied a sound, 
well-developed mind. The Greeks, too, were fully aware of 
the significance gf adolescence in education; the Panhellenic 
games constituted a characteristic expression of adolescent 
needs; in these games were developed, as in the various forms 
of modern athletics, quick thinking, judgment, mental re- 
sourcefulness, and concentration. But the modern sports are 
better suited than were the ancient games to stimulate these 
mental activities, because of their intricate and highly refined 
system of rules. 

Perhaps the greatest possibilities in high-school athletics are 
to be found along moral and social lines of growth and devel- 
opment; in practice it is not easy or wise to separate moral 
and social training, since in practice all moral conduct has 
its social setting. Dr. Hall boldly asserts that "play at its 
best is only a school of ethics," giving "courage and confidence," 
tending "to simplify life and habits, giving energy, decision, 
and promptness to the will," and bringing out individuality. 
The constant self-control and coolness of temper under the most 
trying circumstances necessary to the highest success of the 
player tends to become habitual; and, if this happens, it is 
one of man's greatest assets. Since most of the athletic ac- 
tivity of high-school boys is devoted to teamgames requiring 
perfect cooperation and submission to leadership, perhaps the 
highest moral quality developed is self-sacrifice; there is a 
constant demand that the individual forego his own wishes and 
ambitions for the interests of the whole; obedience to the coach 
and the captain and loyalty to the team naturally become his 
prime motives; self must be voluntarily surrendered and 
merged for the common good; and thus is evolved a spirit of 
self-sacrifice and devotion, which, if they become habitual, 



ATHLETICS 283 

will be found among the elements of his character. Not only 
must the player learn loyalty to his team and to those direct- 
ing his efforts, but he soon thinks of himself as a representative 
of his school; to use Professor G. H. Palmer's phrasing, as the 
football player "puts on his uniform, he strips off his isolated 
personality and stands forth as the trusted champion of an 
institution." Loyalty, as will be shown in a later chapter, is 
without doubt the strongest, safest, and most effective motive 
with which to appeal to the adolescent. 

Then, too, no better scheme could be devised than modern 
team athletics to give the adolescent a first-hand knowledge of 
himself and his own reactions, something he strongly desires. 
Here he is continually measuring his strength, his speed, his 
alertness, his self-control, his resourcefulness, his endurance, 
and his courage by means of concrete tests furnished by others 
of his own age; it is an examination where there is no chance 
for "bluffing" or "cribbing," an ordeal which tries his soul as 
well as his muscles. Since a knowledge of one's weaknesses and 
shortcomings is the chief psychological need of him who would 
improve, this thorough and voluntary measuring and testing 
is surely most wholesome. 

But there are, also, negative advantages and benefits claimed 
for athletics when pursued in a whole-hearted manner. In 
the study of adolescence we found that there is a rapid increase 
of energy of all kinds and that this natural energy must be given 
some channel through which it can assert itself in action; this 
is necessary both for the safety of the individual and for his 
further development. Much of this marvelous flow of new 
energy is either directly or indirectly associated with the emer- 
gence of sex-consciousness; the mental processes are naturally 
closely correlated with the development of sex during adoles- 
cence. We have found that biologists distinguish between 
the primary and secondary sex characteristics; Dr. Hall has sug- 
gested that the secondary traits and manifestations can prop- 



284 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

erly be thought of as "long-circuitings." This analogy, drawn 
from the science of electricity, seems helpful; it is only the 
short-circuits that are dangerous to the apparatus and the 
machinery involved. The problem of dealing helpfully with 
adolescents becomes largely a matter of understanding the 
secondary sex manifestations and providing long-circuits through 
which they may freely and safely flow and thus find expression. 
The activity involved in any of the more strenuous forms 
of team competition and its social environment so exalts the 
spirit of youth that ''the physical pleasures of it diffuse, irrad- 
iate, and mitigate the sexual stress just at the age when its 
premature localization is most deleterious." Thus high-school 
athletics may well be considered one of the safeguards against 
the vices of which the adolescent naturally stands in so much 
danger. Besides contributing to the physical and moral safety 
of youth, athletic games furnish him with a compelling motive 
to refrain from any form of conduct that weakens his body 
and thus lessens his chances for the highest success; to be phys- 
ically superior is a joy and a glory to a young man. There 
can be no doubt that athletics provide a vicarious outlet for 
the adolescent impulses which are surging so violently and 
driving so many splendid boys into the habits and vices charac- 
teristic of the period. 

If the foregoing analysis of the relation between adolescence 
and athletic activity is correct, adolescence is preeminently 
the athletic period; for our discussion has attempted to show 
that modern athletics furnish a pleasant, natural, and effective 
way of developing and coordinating the motor centers and thus 
rendering the individual readily adjustable to his changing 
environment, that they are a means of stimulating to the 
highest degree certain useful forms of mental activity, that they 
afford social and moral training by making a strong appeal 
to the motive of loyalty, and that they aid in safeguarding 
against vices peculiar to youth. 



ATHLETICS 285 

III 

So far the discussion has assumed athletics at their best. 
If we are to have athletic games at their best, the evils and 
dangers that frequently accompany contests between schools 
must be guarded against. These evils and dangers may 
grow out of the players' own enthusiasm and intoxication, 
or they may come from the over anxiety of the coach to win 
his games, or they may be the result of the ill-directed enthus- 
iasm and partisanship of the school, the community, and the 
spectators. 

1. All athletic games, as compared with general gymnastic 
training, are of necessity somewhat specialized forms of ac- 
tivity, hence the tendency toward a one-sided development 
peculiar to each particular form of sport. This is sometimes 
shown when the football player tries to transfer his energies 
from the gridiron to the basket-ball floor, where he has certain 
ideas and movements to unlearn and many new ones to learn. 
This difl&culty can be somewhat mitigated by providing sev- 
eral forms of athletics and by requiring of all athletes some pre- 
liminary work in the gymnasium, thus securing a more symet- 
rical development. 

2. In places where high-school athletics have been thoroughly 
organized and the schools have close and bitter rivals, there 
has resulted a strong tendency to overtrain. Kinds of train- 
ing that might be safely used in colleges with young men have 
been employed with high-school boys in their middle teens; 
and permanent injury to some of the participants has resulted, 
due to overstraining or over-developing certain organs, most 
frequently the heart. This state of affairs has come from sev- 
eral causes, chief of which is over-estimating the importance of 
victory, to which the glamour of the press has contributed its 
share of untoward influence. But this is an evil for which the 
boys are not responsible. This mistaken zeal rests with the 
coaches and primarily with the principals of the schools. It 



286 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

is a condition that can be corrected when those responsible 
have the wisdom and courage to place the welfare of the boys 
above the false pride of the school and the community. 

3. Out of these cases of over-emphasizing the glory of win- 
ning often arises non-educational and unethical conduct in the 
form of unsportsmanlike tricks and methods on the part of the 
players and bad manners on the part of the spectators. When 
the school and the community behind it become imbued with 
ideas that lead to immoral and discourteous conduct, consid- 
erable courage and determination on the part of those in author- 
ity are necessary. But such a condition can and must be 
changed, for the good of all concerned, but especially for the 
physical and moral safety of the boys. In the first place, there 
is no excuse for such a state of affairs to develop; and, in the 
second place, the reformation can be effected and the traditions 
changed by the united effort of the faculty, the board of edu- 
cation, and a few influential people of the community, whose 
influence may easily be secured. If there is no other way, 
athletics must be discontinued for a year or more, so that all 
concerned may know that some one is in earnest and must be 
reckoned with, and so that the undue partisanship may have a 
chance to subside. The author knows of instances where this 
has been deemed necessary; but in his own experience the in- 
fluence of the faculty and the coaches of the schools concerned, 
working persistently through the pupils, has been sufficient to 
effect the desired change and establish a wholesome attitude 
betweeen old-time rivals. 

The following experience may be suggestive, although to 
some readers it may seem a rather drastic form of procedure. 
In a high school of 350 pupils, where every one supposed ath- 
letic matters were well in hand and high ideals prevailed, a 
hot-headed captain, displeased with what appeared to be a 
mistaken decision of a young and incompetent official, led his 
team off the field, contrary to the advice of the teacher-coach. 



ATHLETICS 287 

The next Monday morning the principal called the long-dis- 
tance telephone into service and canceled the remaining games 
of the season's schedule. It seemed to the principal that for 
the good of the boys, as well as the influence upon the school, 
a little discipline was more important than completing the 
schedule; and the principals of the other schools involved saw 
the matter in the same light. The results appear to justify 
the action taken, for during more than ten years following 
there has been no further trouble. 

It seems to many that athletics rank with military train- 
ing in the possibilities afforded for thorough and effective dis- 
cipline; and athletics have the advantage in the fact that sub- 
mission to rigid discipline is more voluntary than in the case 
of military training, a very important consideration when the 
nature and needs of the adolescent are consulted. 

4. Sometimes it is charged that athletics distract the boys 
from their studies and thus create a serious problem. To this 
it may be said that (i) education is not wholly a matter of 
studying books and (2) the rules of eligibility in all of the 
states where interscholastic athletics have been given thought- 
ful attention are so framed that their honest and rigid enforce- 
ment makes it impossible for any boy to neglect his school 
work very seriously and represent the school on its teams. 
During an experience of twenty years, athletics have proved 
an incentive to successful school work as well as to gentlemanly 
conduct. 

5. In athletics, as in all other vigorous activities, there is 
constant danger of physical injury; and this to many, especially 
the mothers of the boys, seems a very serious consideration. 
It is the boy in his early adolescence that is most liable to suffer 
physical harm, because of flabby muscles, loose joints, and 
lack of correlation; but nature has provided pretty carefully 
against overeffort during this awkward age, for most boys at 
this period are instinctively lazy and are thus protected against 



288 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

overexertion. Of course boys at this immature stage of de- 
velopment must not be allowed to take part in the more stren- 
uous athletic feats. The liability to physical injuries can be 
greatly decreased by barring all boys whom professional 
examination shows to be physically unfit, by adequate train- 
ing before participating, by proper equipment, and by con- 
stantly reforming the rules of the games in the interest of the 
players. All of these precautions are being employed more 
and more as experience accumulates and school authorities 
better appreciate the problems involved in modern athletics. 
But, when everything possible has been done to safeguard 
against physical harm, we must expect accidents; there is a 
risk that must be courageously taken whenever life is lived to 
its full possibilities either in or out of school; and "the whole 
philosophy of youth," as R. S. Bourne tells us, "is summed up 
in the word. Dare," and there is no daring where there is no 
danger. Dr. Hall asserts that athletics furnish "a wholesome 
vent for the reckless courage that would otherwise go to dis- 
order or riotous excess." Better an occasional broken nose or 
bone, "or the sacrifice of an occasional life of our best academic 
youth than stagnation, general cynicism and censoriousness, 
bodily and psychic cowardice, and moral corruption, if this 
indeed be, as it sometimes is, its real alternative." 

Around the evils and dangers just discussed center most of 
the problems that must be met and solved for each community 
according to the local conditions. It will be noted that most 
of the trouble growing out of athletics is not due to any ele- 
mental evil; hence, although serious, it is not fundamental. 
The difficulties have arisen largely from the propensity of 
unregulated adolescent enthusiasm to overdo and from uncon- 
trolled accompanying influences that have been allowed to de- 
velop because of the lack of competent leadership. Thus there 
is no reason for discouragement relative to the final outcome; 
success depends almost entirely upon a knowledge of adoles- 



ATHLETICS 289 

cent boys and their needs, skill in meeting these needs, and abil- 
ity to understand and make the most of local conditions. 

IV 

Those who have had experience with high-school athletics 
are aware that both the physical and moral welfare of the con- 
testants and the success of the teams depend very largely on 
the all-round efficiency of the coach; hence the coaching prob- 
lem is the consideration of paramount importance. 

Ever since it has been deemed necessary to furnish a coach 
for high-school athletics, it has been a rather common practice 
to secure some young fellow who has played an important 
position on a big university team or has won his "letter" and 
give him full responsibility for the athletic activities and the 
welfare of a group of high-school boys. The author has learned 
by discouraging experiences the dangers and troubles that are 
likely to accompany this method of procedure. Very seldom is 
it advisable to allow any one not a member of the regular teach- 
ing force to coach high-school athletics. It is not generally 
safe to trust this important and delicate piece of work to any one 
who has only a temporary interest in the athletic welfare of the 
school or who is only interested in the winning of games. The 
permanent interest which causes the wise coach to look forward 
in his planning and training at least three or four years and the 
deep sense of responsibility for the general welfare of the boys 
are not likely to be found in any one outside the faculty. Then, 
too, a coach who has only athletic duties connected with the 
school cannot be expected to appreciate the place of athletics 
in the entire school program; without an understanding of the 
true place of athletics in the whole educational aim of the school 
there will be apt to result a lack of unity of effort. It is very sel- 
dom that any one can be found for whom the boys will feel 
the same respect or in whom they will have as much confidence 
as an efficient teacher of the school. Hence, unless it is pos- 



290 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

sible to employ a regular physical director, it seems best to 
trust the work to an intelligent young teacher who is willing 
to interest himself in the branch of athletics for which a coach 
is needed; if he will throw himself into the work enthusiasti- 
cally and be sincere in his dealings with the boys, knowledge of 
the game and skill in coaching will grow; at least such has been 
the experience of many in securing coaches. 

It is true there are other qualifications needed besides gen- 
eral intelligence and enthusiasrn for the work. The success- 
ful coach must have the ability to secure the hearty coopera- 
tion of the boys; and it is important that he or some one should 
enlist the support of the whole school. Any one responsible for 
the athletic activities of a high school should have at least such 
a knowledge of adolescent growth and periods of development 
as is included in the adequate training of a secondary-school 
teacher, that he may be able to watch the growth of the body 
and its organs, especially the heart, and to discern the chang- 
ing capacities and needs of the individual players. The coach 
should be competent to give every boy who is a candidate for 
a place on any of the school teams a simple heart test; if this 
preliminary test shows any trouble whatever, the boy must 
be sent to a physician for a careful examination before he is 
allowed to take part in any athletic contest. The teacher in 
charge of any particular branch of athletics should have an 
interest in and respect for all kinds of physical training; the 
star in one branch often lacks athletic perspective. The safe 
coach must be embued with the idea that athletics are pri- 
marily for the benefit of the athlete, and not for the pleasure of 
the spectators or the glory of the school; educational athletics 
are the only kind that a high school can laudably support. 
Above all, the coach must stand square and firm on all moral 
issues; his ability and willingness to do this is just as urgent 
as his knowledge and his skill in the technique of the games. 
Whatever the type of coach, he must have the cooperation 



ATHLETICS 291 

and support of the other members of the faculty, especially the 
principal; and, if he is competent, it should be so managed 
that he is given at least a little extra salary on account of his 
coaching. It is very fortunate when there is a sufficient num- 
ber of competent men on the teaching staff so that each branch 
of athletics can have its own coach; this makes the work less 
burdensome on any one, and it is a means of securing the interest 
and influence of a larger number of men for this important 
work. If the men who do the coaching are effective leaders and 
men of character, they will receive a very satisfying return for 
their services in the form of increased influence and apprecia- 
tion both in the school and the community they are serving; 
they will have inspiring contact with life at its most fascinating 
period of development, when it is the most responsive and 
when the seeds that are sown strike root most deeply and bear 
fruit most quickly. The competent and sympathetic coach 
always has a valuable asset in the group of young, enthusiastic 
companions and friends with whom he surrounds himself. 



The next topic to be discussed is one on which school men and 
physical directors do not always agree. What games should 
be played by the high-school boys; and what factors determine 
the choice of these games? From what has already been said, 
games should be selected that will help to develop health, 
strength, agility, suppleness, skill, vigor, speed, endurance, 
physical judgment, decision, virility, cooperation, restraint, 
self-sacrifice, and courage; for these qualities all belong to the 
highest type of manhood. We all agree on the qualities desired 
but not on the games that are best suited to their development. 
In most places in the United States athletic contests are con- 
fined to football, soccer, basket-ball, baseball, tennis, and the 
various track and field events. 

I. Football without doubt receives the greatest amount of 



292 fflGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

adverse criticism. It is objected to because of its strenuous- 
ness and because of the number of serious accidents resulting. 
It is strenuous and always will be, like any form of physical 
contest where personal contact is allowed. But for those who 
are physically fit this is one of the qualities which recommends 
the game; it is a quality which appeals strongly to nearly 
every virile youth, to those seeking their highest development, 
and to the spectators. Football is a real struggle between 
peers. It is doubtless the strenuous qualities of the game that 
led Dr. Hall to characterize it as "a magnificent game if played 
on honor." No game better provides for training in alertness, 
physical judgment, decision, physical and moral self-control, 
and courage. Here the able-bodied youth can learn to fight 
under rules and supervision, something very helpful in devel- 
oping his sense of honor and courage and in making his 
masculinity ring true. We must not eradicate the fighting 
instinct of the adolescent, but we must educate and temper 
it aright. We must furnish some means to the passive, hesi- 
tating, shrinking, obstructed-will type of boy that will make 
vigorous action easy, as Professor Home expresses it, that will 
"open the flood-gates of nervous energy and connect mental 
and physical reactions." If such a boy can only be induced 
to pla)^ the game, he will be sure to gain in confidence. On 
the other hand, the boy with the precipitate will, who tends to 
express himself in unrestrained action, very much needs the 
discipline of some kind of strenuous contest where there is a 
real clash of wills and where law and authority must control; 
his overimpulsiveness, conceit, and natural adolescent self- 
assertion greatly need the rigid discipline of the gridiron. 

Perhaps one piece of expert testimony will help us to under- 
stand. This is the way Victor Kennard sums up what he owes 
to football. "I learned to control my temper, to exercise judg- 
ment, to think quickly and act decisively. I learned the mean- 
ing of discipline, to take orders and carry them out to the best 



ATHLETICS 293 

of my ability without asking why. I had through the training 
regular habits knocked into me. I learned to meet, know, and 
size up men. I learned to smile when I was the most discour- 
aged fellow in this great wide world, the importance of being 
on time, a better control of my nerves, and to demand the 
respect of my fellow-players. I learned to work out problems 
for myself, and to apply my energy more intelligently — to 
stick by the ship. I secured a wide friendship which money 
cannot buy." Here are about fourteen benefits that Mr. 
Kennard claims he derived from playing football, all of which 
tend toward the highest success in almost any human activity. 

To guard against injuries occurring in football there are at 
least five things that can be done in the way of taking precau- 
tion: boys can be kept out of the games played by the regular 
team against other schools until they are pretty well along in 
middle adolescence, thus avoiding the more vigorous and dan- 
gerous contests; they can be kept out of interschool games 
until they have been taught what to do when tackled vigorously 
and in general how to care for themselves in the heat of the 
game; they can be kept out or taken out of the game when not 
in good physical condition, including cases of extreme fatigue 
(recent changes in the rules make it convenient to do this); 
they can be properly dressed and equipped for protection; 
and they can be taught to make a liberal use of open plays for 
advancing the ball. The rules are being improved from time 
to time in such a way as to encourage open formations and thus 
lessen the dangers that accompany mass plays. 

2. Soccer is a splendid game, much in favor with principals 
and others who have an interest in the welfare of the boys, 
but not adequate thus far to take the place of regular football 
in the minds of the more vigorous adolescent boys or the spec- 
tators. It is a game in which the mere size and weight of the 
player do not count very much; it develops skill and alertness; 
it calls for quick decisions and cooperation; it cultivates self- 



294 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

assertion; and it is free from the dangers of mass plays and 
tackling. It is a game that can be played by boys at twelve 
and continued to almost any age. If soccer can be made pop- 
ular, much benefit may be derived from it, and it may be used 
to furnish preliminary training for regular football. 

3. Basket-ball is the only vigorous winter game that has 
made a very strong appeal in this country to either athletes or 
spectators. It provides a place for a different t3^e of athlete; 
the quick, wiry boy with strong arms and shoulders can soon 
learn to play the game successfully if he can be taught to use 
his mind and muscles properly. Basket-ball has nearly all 
the advantages of lacrosse, which is an excellent game for nearly 
any type of boy, but not yet played much in this country. 
From the standpoint of health, basket-ball is not so desirable 
for either players or spectators, since it is usually played in- 
doors. It is a game that needs very careful regulating, because 
it puts a great strain on the heart; this tendency becomes less 
as the players become expert and depend on skilful passing of 
the ball instead of constant running. Basket-ball appeals to 
adolescent boys, because it is strenuous and demands a high 
degree of self-control and cooperation; and it appeals to the 
spectators, because the rules of the game are easily understood, 
nearly all that happens on the floor can be readily seen, and the 
spectators can be comfortably seated during the game. It 
is a game that can be made a splendid training in self-sacrifice 
and loyalty; for the highest success demands perfectly devel- 
oped teamwork, as distinguished from individual starring on 
the part of the players. Basket-ball calls for perfect heart 
action, hence the coach should be very watchful of the condi- 
tion of his players. Healthy boys can begin playing basket- 
ball at twelve years of age and continue till maturity. 

4. According to Hall, baseball "represents activities that 
were once and for a long time necessary for survival," "muscular 
coordinations that have been of great racial utility;" the "run- 



ATHLETICS 295 

ning and dodging with speed and endurance, and hitting with 
a club, were all basal in hunting and fighting." Because of 
its ancient phylogenetic origin, if one accepts Gulick's theory, 
baseball is very interesting to adolescents of all ages; and, 
because of the many forms of skill, accuracy, and judgment 
demanded, it offers most excellent psychoneural and mus- 
cular training, thus contributing much toward perfecting the 
whole organism. Baseball can be played safely and success- 
fully from the age of ten to thirty; and it can be made helpful 
to any type of athlete. Because the game is not as strenuous 
as the other cooperative games, boys are inclined to think 
that a rigid observance of the laws of health is not so necessary 
in baseball; hence one of the first duties of the coach should be 
to clear up the boys' thinking on this matter. The high de- 
gree of accuracy and control demanded by certain features of 
the game implies that the smaller muscles and their corres- 
ponding nerve centers must work with perfect coordination; 
and many recent experiments in educational psychology have 
proved that these finer adjustments, calling for nerve-control 
of the smaller muscles, are the first to be affected by any change 
in the physical condition; success in batting is especially de- 
pendent upon both physical and mental tone, since all the 
smaller muscles connected with vision are concerned. It is 
often difficult to get boys to realize the relation between the 
habits which affect health and their success in baseball, because 
they are not able to "feel" the lack of tonicity that produces 
the unfavorable results in their playing. It was only by a 
long series of experiments, so arranged that the effect of phys- 
ical condition on the more delicate coordinations could be defi- 
nitely measured, that the actual facts concerning motor control 
were brought to light. Thus the educational possibilities of 
baseball are important and numerous. 

5. Training for the various track events may be made to 
contribute much to the health and physical effectiveness of 



296 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

nearly all boys, although they are not so rich in possibilities 
for mental, social, and moral development. Because the so- 
cial and cooperative elements are somewhat lacking, much 
enthusiasm and ability to impart enthusiasm are needed on 
the part of the coach. The different races differ considerably 
as to the age at which they can be safely entered and the length 
of the training period needed; in general the long runs require 
more maturity and longer training. Sprinting can be safely 
started at twelve; low hurdles, at fourteen; high hurdles, at 
sixteen; and the distance runs had better be postponed till 
seventeen or later. There are sound physiological and struc- 
tural reasons for all these statements. All matters of health, 
including especially the condition of the heart, must be super- 
vised by the coach, as in other forms of athletics. 

The ages favorable to participation in the usual high-school 
field events are, according to a chart prepared by Dr. Naismith 
of the University of Kansas, as follows: Broad and high jump, 
the entire period of adolescence; discus throwing and pole 
vaulting, from sixteen to twenty-five; javelin and hammer 
throwing, from eighteen to maturity (the latter may well be 
omitted because of danger to the spectators); a well built 
boy can begin putting the shot at seventeen. The individual 
equipment for these track and field events is easily obtained 
and any number can be trained to advantage. 

6. Whenever possible a high school should have tennis 
courts, the number depending on the size of the school. The 
age at which boys and girls enter the senior high school is just 
the right time to learn to play tennis. It is a game suited to 
the needs of practically every one, for it can be made as vigor- 
ous as the players desire. The game affords splendid motor 
training under very healthful conditions. It is free from the 
dangers of other forms of athletics; and there is very little 
necessary expense after the courts are provided. Expert 
coaching is not necessary; and tennis playing is easily encour- 



ATHLETICS 297 

aged, the interest and attention of some member of the faculty- 
being all that is needed. Various tournaments should be ar- 
ranged within the school and as many as practicable with other 
schools. 

Because of the great variety of physical needs, abiUties, and 
tastes, and because adolescence is the time when individual 
differences make their appearance and when each fimction as 
it appears must be exercised if the greatest effectiveness is to 
be attained, a high school should encourage and support as 
many forms of athletic activity as possible. If there is to be 
vigorous interschool competition, it is necessary to be guided 
somewhat in the selection of the kind of games by the forms 
of athletics in vogue in the near-by schools; in order to secure 
the chief benefits of athletics, the competitive and social el- 
ements, which appeal to the instincts and the emotions, must 
not be lacking; no series of interclass games will arouse the 
interest and secure the effort in the form of careful training 
that results from interschool competition. The interschool 
contests are fraught with both some danger and unusual 
possibilities. It is worth much to learn early in life to treat 
an opponent with courtesy and consideration, a very difficult 
lesson when the contest is one that calls for the utmost effort 
of those opposing each other. The visiting team must be 
considered the honored guests of the home team and the school, 
and all the relationships involved must be governed by this 
idea. Frequently both the members of the team and the school 
have much to learn concerning the proper treatment of the 
officials; partisanship naturally runs high and trying condi- 
tions arise; but this only furnishes a better test of conduct 
from the standpoint of sportsmanship and courtesy. 

When possible there should be arranged "second team" 
or "light weight" games, for the purpose of encouraging a 
larger number of pupils to participate and to provide an or- 
ganized team to play against the regular school team. The 



298 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

degree of benefit derived from the different athletic games can 
be pretty safely judged by the degree of interest, spontaneity, 
and zest which each arouses. 

VI 

In conclusion, it seems best to add a word concerning the 
management of high-school athletics; for here problems are 
involved that must not be neglected if troubles are to be avoided 
and the best results obtained. 

Whatever the size of the school, it will be an advantage to 
organize an athletic association. This organization should 
include in its membership all pupils that can be interested in 
athletics or that are willing to aid in their support. This 
association is a means of increasing the unifying influence oi 
athletics upon the school: it gives every one who wishes it a 
voice in deciding a few things with regard to the management 
of the athletics of the school and provides for organized finan- 
cial support. If the association is large, as it should be in a 
large high school, it is likely to become unwieldy for purposes 
of thorough discussion and careful decisions, and it does not 
provide a means of definitely fixing responsibility. 

These difficulties may be overcome by organizing a smaller 
group within the association with more power, to be known by 
some such name as the "athletic council," and composed of the 
president of the athletic association, the captains of the various 
teams, the coaches, and the principal of the school. The duties 
and powers of the association and the council should be care- 
fully defined by a written constitution and by-laws, prepared 
by the joint efforts of representatives of both the pupils and 
the faculty. Besides placing responsibility and securing in- 
terest and support, the athletic council furnishes in a small 
way the very best kind of training in business methods and ad- 
ministration; the influence of membership in the council is 
most wholesome in the case of the naturally troublesome boy; 



ATHLETICS 



299 



and it provides a natural channel through which a principal 
may learn and create sentiment. The council may well have as 
one of its functions the awarding of athletic honors, such as the 
school "letters;" and it should have the power to recommend 
many matters of policy to the association for final action. The 
author has found an organization like the one described the 
very best means of keeping closely in touch with the whole 
athletic situation. 

There are a few very important and definite duties connected 
with the management of high-school athletics for which the 
principal alone must be held responsible. It is his duty to 
make sure that the rules of eligibility are strictly observed both 
in letter and in spirit. He can create such a sentiment in his 
school that it will be considered a serious breach of loyalty 
to the team and the school on the part of any athlete to lose 
his eligibility because of low grades or unsportsmanlike con- 
duct; and social pressure is a powerful influence with ado- 
lescents. 

The principal, too, can arrange for mass meetings just before 
important games; nearly all details should be planned by 
representative pupils; and these meetings can be made a strong 
unifying influence and a source of much wholesome school 
spirit and enthusiasm. To be effective the meetings must be 
carefully planned, the program consisting of school songs and 
songs written for the occasion, speaking by members of the 
team, coach, and others, and vigorous, well-directed cheering. 
One of the important by-products of such meetings is the abil- 
ity in public speaking that the boys cultivate during their 
four years in high school. It is at these meetings that the prin- 
cipal and coaches can inculcate ideals of courtesy to the oppos- 
ing team and school; the pupils must be made to feel that any 
exhibition of discourtesy on their part will bring more disgrace 
to the school than the defeat of their team. Very often it is 
well to arrange a mass meeting after a significant victory when 



300 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

an opportunity is given to the school to express appreciation 

of the players and the coach. 

The teachers, both men and women, have much to gain from 
the athletics of the school. It is difl&cult for those teachers 
who have entered sympathetically into the spirit of athletics 
and the excitement and the fascination which sway the stu- 
dent body to understand why any teacher who is working for 
and living with the pupils as boys and girls should forego the 
invigorating pleasure and increased influence that comes from 
being one in spirit with all this youthful enthusiasm. A teacher 
must be strong indeed who can afford to ignore this source of 
inspiration and influence. 

Just a final word concerning the importance of the matters 
discussed in this chapter growing out of the demands and con- 
ditions imposed by our latest scientific, social, and industrial 
developments, (i) Because of modern knowledge relative to 
childhood and its needs, many adolescents are today in our 
schools that would formerly have died during babyhood; and 
these are naturally not the most robust. Although medical 
science has made wonderful progress in reducing the number of 
deaths due to zymotic diseases, the diseases of the nervous 
system are rapidly increasing. (2) Society in general has be- 
come so complex and so stimulating in its effects on the indi- 
vidual that the strain has increased more rapidly than any coun- 
teracting influences have been provided. (3) The conquest of 
nature and the accumulation of wealth have come to be the 
prime motives in modern civilization. (4) Many communi- 
ties are looking to the junior and senior high schools to furnish 
vocational knowledge and training, which means that many 
of the smaller muscles and finer adjustments are called upon to 
function rather than the fundamental muscles, whose exercise 
is so closely related to health. Now, all educators are fully 
persuaded and they often assert that health is more important 
than any kind of knowledge or skill; yet many of the schools 



ATHLETICS- 301 

have been discouragingly slow in adjusting their curriculums 
and their practice to the new conditions and the changed needs 
of the pupils. If the analysis of the functions of the various 
forms of high-school athletics given in this chapter is accurate, 
then it would appear that we have already developed in many 
places the natural and proper correctives for the unfavorable 
tendencies and influences of modern civilization and its demands. 
All that is necessary is to make our practice agree with our 
theory; give the big muscles of the trunk, legs, and arms 
plenty of vigorous exercise, bringing into action the lower nerve 
centers, thus securing the positive hygienic effects desired, as 
well as all the mental and moral qualities that are the natural 
outcome of properly managed team athletics. If this can be 
accomplished, a vital high-school problem will have found 
solution. 



CHAPTER XVI 
PUPIL FINANCE 

The problem discussed in this chapter is one of some impor- 
tance in all high schools and of much importance in the larger 
schools; its importance grows out of the opportunities for bus- 
iness training connected with the financing of the various pupil 
activities, and the possibilities for rather serious troubles when 
the business management of pupil organizations receives no 
attention from the faculty. Twice in the author's high-school 
experience, very embarrassing situations have arisen in connec- 
tion with the handling of funds belonging to pupil organiza- 
tions, due to neglect and lack of system; the plan here pre- 
sented grew out of the need which these troubles made evident. 

In Chapter VII, attention was called to the many subtile 
devices which modern society has developed and the many 
traps which modern commercialism has set for the on-coming 
generations of youth, all intended to cater to and take advan- 
tage of the peculiar nature of the adolescent. These snares 
and devices come in the form of public dances, movies, vaude- 
ville, suggestive songs, emotional literature, pictures border- 
ing on the obscene, and other stimuli that appeal to sex suscep- 
tibility. Modern society has been very skilful and modern 
commercialism has been very bold in the exploitation of ado- 
lescence. The boy who is just entering manhood naturally 
desires to "know all and do all befitting man's estate." Now, 
nearly every form of appeal that surrounds the adolescent 
makes an ever-increasing demand for his money, so that money 
soon comes to be the equivalent in his mind of the most fasci- 
nating social enjoyment; hence the desire to have and the temp- 

302 



PUPIL FINANCE 303 

tation to spend money become very powerful, especially with the 
boy in urban or suburban communities. Thus it comes about 
that the possession of indefinite amounts of money belonging 
to others gives rise to a serious and dangerous situation in the 
case of a boy with spirit. If he has reached middle adolescence, 
he is in the midst of his grand struggle for self-reliance; if he is 
well brought up, he wishes to be honest; but the inner alle- 
giance is still very fickle, and he still feels strongly the pull of 
primitive impulses and hears the reverberation of the predatory 
life of the tribal and feudal ancestors whose psychic life he is 
recapitulating. It is not strange that statistics show that 
early and middle adolescence together constitute the period 
most prolific in the beginnings of crime. One-fifth to one-fourth 
of the several groups representing respectable people studied 
by E. J. Swift acknowledged that they had taken money or 
articles of value during their youth. 

In the light of the foregoing, it is apparent that the average 
high-school pupil who handles funds for which there is no 
strict system of accounting is often tempted beyond what many 
adults are able to withstand. This is contrary to both sound 
psychology and sound pedagogy. Moral conduct should al- 
ways be made easy, especially during the formative period, 
for the early stages of the process now under way constitute a 
real will-crisis. Then, too, on the positive side, there is offered 
in the financing of the various pupil activities a splendid oppor- 
tunity for concrete business training that should not be neglec- 
ted. The plan which follows proved very satisfactory in a 
suburban high school of five hundred pupils, where the amount 
of money involved ranged between two and three thousand 
dollars per year and the organizations included in the arrange- 
ment numbered about fifteen. 

For the plan here recommended only two officers, in addi- 
tion to the usual officers of the various organizations, are needed; 
these may be called "general accountant" and "general treas- 



304 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

urer." It is best that these officers be members of the faculty, 
especially the general treasurer. The general accountant is 
provided with a small ledger, and each organization is assigned 
a page in the ledger. Besides the usual check book and pass 
book furnished by banks, the general treasurer is provided 
with a receipt book and a deposit book. The treasurers of 
the different organizations are furnished with uniform receipt 
books. The pupils are instructed not to pay any dues, initia- 
tion fees, or other money to any one without taking a receipt. 
The money received by the various treasurers is paid to the 
general treasurer and a receipt given by him every time a pay- 
ment is made. Once or twice a week the money in the hands 
of the general treasurer is deposited in a bank and credited to 
the "student-activity fund;" at each time of deposit, the gen- 
eral treasurer enters in the deposit book the date of deposit 
and the amount that each organization has in the day's de- 
posit. This completes the receiving part of the arrangement. 
No money is paid out except by checks drawn by the general 
treasurer by order of, the individual treasurers. The check- 
book stub shows, besides the date and the amount drawn, the 
name of the organization ordering the pa3rment and the purpose 
for which the money was paid. Thus there are three records 
of all money paid out, — that of the treasurer whose funds are 
drawn upon, that of the general treasurer, and that of the 
bank. 

At the end of each school month the general accountant com- 
pares the general treasurer's pass book and deposit book to 
see that they agree, and makes up his ledger from the check 
book and deposit book, thus showing the credit and debit 
sides of the account of each organization. The accountant's 
monthly report shows the amount received by the general treas- 
urer from each organization, the amount paid out, and the 
balance on hand. Three copies of this report are made and 
signed by the general accountant and general treasurer; one 



PUPIL FINANCE 305 

is sent to the school paper for publication, one is placed on the 
school bulletin board, and the other is printed in a local paper. 
Publicity is almost as important as competent accounting. 

At the end of each semester the account books and receipt 
books of the various pupil-treasurers are taken to the office, 
and the accounts audited by a committee composed of a pupil, 
the general accountant, and the general treasurer. Of the 
report of this committee three copies are made, signed by the 
committee, and published in the same manner as the monthly 
reports of the general accountant. 

As here described this plan may appear somewhat cumber- 
some and it may seem to involve some red-tape; but in actual 
practice such is not the case. The general treasurer has a 
little work to do nearly every day, receiving money, writing 
receipts and checks, and making deposits at the bank; but he 
is the only one involved in the scheme whose extra work is 
worthy of mention. However, the extra work which the plan 
imposes is very small compared with the troubles resulting 
from careless accounting or dishonesty that are pretty sure 
to come sooner or later. Although this plan was first worked 
out for the sole purpose of guarding against mistakes and dis- 
honesty, the author is convinced that this, or something 
like it, has sufficient educational value to warrant all the extra 
work it brings to those concerned. Where it was tried, benefits 
and advantages grew out of it that no one had thought of, 
especially the publicity feature of the scheme. Frequently 
members of the various organizations came to the office to 
inquire into the purposes for which so much money had been 
spent during the month; the inquiry was always met by simply 
handing over the general treasurer's check book. No explana- 
tion is needed to show the wholesome effect of the interest thus 
aroused. It will be noted that no responsibility is taken from 
the pupils or their representatives (which would be a serious 
weakness), since the general treasurer does not pay out any 



306 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

money without a written order from a pupil-treasurer. There 
is no feeling on the part of the pupils that they are being treated 
with doubt or suspicion, for it is simply an ordinary business 
arrangement, providing a system of checks and counter-checks 
between representatives of the pupils and of the faculty. 

Nothing original or ingenious is claimed for this scheme; 
it is here given merely as an example of a little piece of school 
machinery that will aid the adolescents to keep right morally; 
for in the last analysis moral training is largely a matter of 
conditions. 



CHAPTER XVII 

ASSEMBLY 

In nearly all languages there are certain satisfying words 
and phrases which are used to express the idea of unity of spirit 
or purpose. The French effectively express this idea of mutual 
interest and sense of imity among the individuals of a group 
when they say, esprit de corps. These various forms of expres- 
sion are satisfying because they describe a mental and moral 
condition much desired. When there is unity of spirit, the 
individual grows more effective because he becomes more than 
an individual; he is a member of a body all parts of which are 
inspired by a common purpose; as such, he is raised above 
his own individual self; and he gains new enthusiasm, hope, 
and confidence. Military leaders have always placed high 
value on the morale of their armies. During recent years the 
modern high school has learned the value of esprit de corps. 
We know that the success of the school as a whole is largely 
determined by the unity of spirit and effort which pervades 
the student body; and the social and moral welfare of the in- 
dividual pupil is more dependent upon the harmony of in- 
fluences resulting from a real esprit de corps than is generally 
realized. As Dr. Bagley expresses it, "social stability demands 
a certain likemindedness, — or, better, a rather complete re- 
semblance among individuals in respect of dominant conduct- 
controls." The likemindedness of the group results in social 
stability, because it adds wonderfully to all the satisfying and 
stimulating influences; the various pressures of the social 
atmosphere become at once bracing and quieting. This is 
true in general whenever human beings come together for a 

307 



308 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

common purpose; but, because of the rapidly dawning social 
instincts, adolescents are extremely eager to be one in spirit 
and unitedly to serve a common cause. Without this privilege, 
they are likely to be turbulent; and the highest opportunity 
for training in loyalty is lost. 

There is doubtless little difference of opinion with respect 
to the foregoing statements. The whole problem is, how can 
this desirable unity of spirit and purpose be secured? In gen- 
eral it will be agreed that this sense of unity, if present, is likely 
to have its origin in some one with a definite and consistent 
purpose in mind, whose influence is sufficient to control the so- 
cial forces at work. As the American high school is at present 
organized and administered, this function belongs primarily 
to the principal; and the successful principal makes use of very 
many means of unifjdng his school. This is fundamental in 
the solution of high-school problems, as the reader has fre- 
quently been reminded. But there is one means which is 
not really appreciated by many principals; only a few seem to 
make full use of the school assembly for this purpose; this 
appears evident both from the nature of the exercises and from 
the subordinate place that the general assembly seems to oc- 
cupy in directing the conduct and efforts of the student body. 
It is with this idea in mind that this short chapter is given 
a place in these discussions of high-school problems. 

If the possibilities of the school assembly are as great as is 
here implied, what happens at this time is worthy of consid- 
erable thought and effort on the part of many connected with 
the school. It will be understood that the following discussion 
is intended to be merely suggestive; as always, conditions and 
available means must determine procedure. The purpose of 
the chapter will be accomplished if it stimulates or directs 
thought and effort in the direction indicated. 

There are three qualities that, from the standpoint of the 
pupils, should characterize the programs of the school assem- 



ASSEMBLY 



309 



bly; they should be interesting, instructive, and inspiring, 
(i) The first quality must always obtain; we must never be 
satisfied with giving the pupils something "they ought to en- 
joy." Unless the exercises are interesting and pleasant from 
the pupils' point of view, the whole afiair is an imposition; 
we take an unfair advantage when, by reason of our authority, 
we force pupils to give attention to a program that does not 
meet their real interests. With this first and most important 
quality we should, as far as possible, unite one or both of the 
other two. (2) It is easy to provide program material that 
is instructive; but much thought and sympathetic effort are 
required to furnish material that is instructive to young people 
of high-school age. We must beware of giving the pupils 
something that "they ought to know." Here again we are in 
danger of imposing our adult ideas. (3) If we judge from the 
testimony that has been collected by several students of high- 
school ideals and interests, it would seem that in after years 
the thing that is cherished with greatest gratitude by former 
pupils is the inspiration that they received from their teachers 
and others connected with their high-school life. If some one 
can be found who is able to bring an inspiring message to the 
pupils during the general assembly period, nothing better can 
be done for the individual pupils and the school as a whole; 
but unfortunately those who are able to do this are few in num- 
ber and not often available. If these three aims — interest, 
instruction, and inspiration — are always realized at least in 
part, the assembling of the school will be looked forward to 
with pleasure, and the school life will be enriched to the degree 
that these aims are realized. 

To make certain that the general exercise period is pleasing, 
instructive, and inspiring, there are a few things that must be 
avoided. It should always be kept in mind by those responsible 
that it is not a time to say unpleasant things. This means 
that we must not yield to the temptation to discuss frequently 



3IO HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

matters of discipline or to point out the faults and shortcom- 
ings of the pupils. For this view there are at least two reasons: 
(i) It will seldom accomplish the thing aimed at, since bad 
conduct is too personal a matter to be treated successfully in 
mass or in public; and (2) talk concerning pupils' shortcomings 
is not pleasing, instructive, or inspiring, as it violates a funda- 
mental principle of pedagogy in that it emphasizes the wrong 
thing. Usually the one who yields to the temptation to say 
ill-natured and unpleasant things in public is fully persuaded 
that he is doing so for the good of his hearers; he believes he 
is " telling them the truth and saying things that they ought to 
know;" whereas a more complete analysis of the case would 
show that he is merely relieving his own feelings on a matter 
that is disturbing his peace of mind. At best this unpleasant 
practice is an imposition upon a great majority of the pupils, 
that part of the school, too, that is entitled to the most defer- 
ence; for the adverse criticism to which expression is given 
usually applies to a comparatively small number, unless some 
one besides the pupils is at fault or inefficient. Again, unless 
care is exercised to exclude fault-finding and seeming irritabil- 
ity, there is danger of the pupils' coming to feel that school is 
not a pleasant place to be; because what is done in public 
and by those in authority naturally does much to determine 
the tone of the entire institution, whatever the institution may 
be. Further, frequent reprimanding, like any other form of 
irritation, tends to produce a calloused condition and thus to 
defeat its own ends because of the resulting lack of sensitive- 
ness. 

In our efforts to make the general exercise period instructive, 
there is danger of adding another working period to the school 
day; this is another thing to be avoided. But, if the programs 
really make a strong appeal to the interests and needs of the 
pupils, they will not be felt burdensome. The more substantial 
and thought-provoking the subject presented, the more skill 



ASSEMBLY 311 

will be needed in treating it. Heavy subjects will not be bur- 
densome when treated concretely and made to touch the lives 
of the pupils. 

In every community there are people who will wish to ex- 
ploit the high-school pupils; the motive may be either selfish- 
ness or merely devotion to some pet scheme or hobby on the 
part of the one who seeks a hearing. This again is something 
to be guarded against if the pupils are not to be imposed upon. 
Requests for an opportunity to address the school are usually 
made in such a manner and by such persons that it is somewhat 
difficult to refuse. Yet in the interest of the pupils, which is 
the only interest to be considered in this case, whatever is 
undertaken during the assembly period must meet one or 
more of the aims mentioned above. 

The reader will readily agree that the programs ought to be 
interesting, instructive, or inspiring from the viewpoint of the 
pupils; yet in many schools the simplest and most direct method 
of realizing these aims is not employed. Very often the assump- 
tion seems to be that the assembly period belongs solely to 
the principal, and that he alone knows what is needed; or, 
when there is a little less prevalence of the monarchial idea of 
managing matters, a committee of teachers has charge of the 
programs. In either case the assumption is that some one be- 
sides the pupils knows better than the pupils what will meet 
their interests and needs. It must be clear that all of the fore- 
going discussion tends to but one conclusion; and that is, that 
the general exercises of the school should be a social affair. 
In other words, some way should be found to capitalize all 
the best ideas of the pupils and the teachers and make use 
of all the available talent of both the school and the com- 
munity. 

As to how this will be brought about will depend upon the 
size of the school and many other conditions; a great variety 
of plans have been used to secure the desired results; but in 



312 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

all schemes the principle of cooperation is fundamental, the 
cooperation of all departments and all elements of the school. 
This is the only way to make sure that the interests and needs 
of the pupils are all known and met; and it is necessary to the 
development of a "social conscience" and to making certain 
that the individuals "participate in the social conscience." 
In the published accounts of cooperative schemes, the best 
practice seems to place the responsibility for the assembly 
programs in the hands of a committee composed of pupils and 
at least one member of the faculty. Sometimes the committee 
is permanent, and in some cases the committee in charge is a 
changing body. The most important considerations to bear 
in mind are that the pupil members of the committee must 
be pupils that know pretty definitely what the school really 
wants and that nothing interests and pleases a school so much 
as performances by its own members. The literature of the 
subject contains reports of marked success where the work is 
in the hands of some sort of a representative committee, and 
this seems to be the best way to manage. However, the author 
has been able to realize the aims and accomplish some of the 
purposes of the school assembly by what appears a less system- 
atic way of managing. He has found it convenient and sat- 
isfactory to invite the various organizations and classes each to 
assume the responsibility of preparing and carrying out a pro- 
gram. This sort of a plan may easily include special programs 
for special days, such as, national holidays and anniversaries of 
great events. The scheme here suggested usually gives rise 
to wholesome emulation on the part of those who do the work. 
Either this or the committee plan is likely to secure the ser- 
vices of all the special talent of the school. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to say that this cooperation between pupils and teachers 
does not abrogate any faculty authority. 

The following arrangement was used several semesters in 
one school. On Mondays the principal addressed the school, 



ASSEMBLY 



3-^3 



and attempted to interest the pupils in a great variety of topics, 
including an interpretation of events and people of current 
interest, literature, art, travel, and topics that might be classed 
as the philosophy of living. Tuesdays some one outside of 
the school was invited to speak to the pupils. The speakers 
were men and women from every walk of life, and they dis- 
cussed a great variety of topics. Wednesdays one of the older 
pupils spoke before the school or provided a program; these 
mornings nearly always brought matters of much interest and 
were anticipated with pleasure by the school. Thursdays one 
of the teachers either addressed the school or arranged a pro- 
gram. The Friday programs consisted of music furnished 
either by outside talent or by the school. This arrangement 
brings about the greatest possible variety in the programs and 
makes a rather satisfactory distribution of responsibility. 

Probably the school assembly proves of greatest educative 
value when there is a real issue and something to be done for 
which sentiment must be created; in this case results are ob- 
tained by focusing attention on what is needed and arousing 
interest and enthusiasm for the undertaking. This can be so 
managed as to give the pupils the very best training in initia- 
tive and real experience in public speaking. No critic of high- 
school debating is able to find anything artificial or stilted in 
the discussions which naturally accompany the consideration of 
any enterprise undertaken by the pupils, especially if the en- 
terprise is vital to the welfare of the school or the community. 
Any school that did not make use of the assembly period for 
the purpose of initiating and promoting the many worthy 
causes and the various "drives" during the great war certainly 
failed to realize its resources to the full, and neglected a splen- 
did opportunity for training in cooperative effort. The ex- 
periences that our country was passing through were always 
rich in worthy and appealing motives; the high-school boys 
and girls were always pleased to plan and execute any piece of 



314 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

war service that was suggested to them; and after they caught 
the notion that they could really have a part in the great world 
events, they were fertile in ideas and effective in execution. 
In the present writer's experience one carefully planned pro- 
gram was usually sufficient to initiate a successful campaign 
of war service. It was easy to develop a wonderfully interest- 
ing and effective interplay of responsibility between the pupils 
and the faculty; by means of real teamwork strong programs 
were planned, and the programs stimulated voluntary effort 
and cooperation to a degree that nothing else would. The 
war has passed; but there are always worthy and real motives 
at hand. Both faculty and pupils should continually have 
under consideration many more school enterprises than can 
actually be carried out. The assembly period is the natural 
time to learn of any of these enterprises that demand con- 
certed action. 

The following activities are illustrative of what one high 
school undertook at assembly during the past year: a discus- 
sion by the pupils of the advisability of resuming athletic rela- 
tions with a neighboring high school with which these relations 
had been severed, presentation and acceptance by the pupils of 
memorials and gifts to the school, arousing enthusiasm for com- 
ing athletic and literary contests with other schools, honoring 
successful athletes and debaters, presentation of the school's ath- 
letic and literary "letters" at the end of each season, the or- 
ganizing and carrying out of a mock political convention, ad- 
vertising class plays by the members of the cast, launching a 
thrift movement, practicing school songs and school yells, pur- 
chasing a United States flag for the school, discussion of the 
advisability of new organizations, and the discussion of many 
other matters of general interest to the school. 

Besides these specific things that are given an assembly 
period for their consideration, there is usually considerable 
business connected with the management of the school that 



ASSEMBLY 3 15 

must have prompt attention, and the assembly serves as a sort 
of a clearing house for the transaction of this business. 

The school assembly is the natural place to teach the pupils 
proper conduct at public gatherings, something that is greatly 
needed in many communities. There is a rather definite ''so- 
cial criterion of conduct," which they must learn and habit- 
ually observe if they are to be socially efficient. If pupils leave 
high school without the ideals of social behavior pretty well 
crystallized, their conduct on public occasions is likely to be 
such as to cause them to be misjudged, by unconsciously sub- 
jecting themselves to criticism. 

The practice with regard to the time for holding general exer- 
cises seems to vary greatly. If the time of beginning school 
work in the morning and other conditions are favorable, 
there would appear to be many reasons for opening school with 
an assembly. In many places where this is not practicable, 
it is the custom to assemble the school about the middle of the 
forenoon; and there are a number of schools that begin the 
afternoon session with general exercises. But the matter of 
time is not as important as the other considerations. It is 
of consequence, however, that every one connected with the 
school should attend, and good form demands promptness 
on the part of all. The length of the regular assembly period 
seems to vary from ten to thirty minutes. If the school meets 
every day or three times per week, half an hour is too long, 
whereas ten minutes is not sufficient to accomplish many things 
that ought to be undertaken. 

This chapter has attempted the following: to emphasize 
the importance of developing esprit de corps in high schools 
and to show that the school assembly may serve as a unifying 
influence; to make clear the necessity of interesting, instructive; 
and inspiring programs in order to secure the desired results; 
to point out a few things that should be avoided if we are to 
realize the three qualities named above; to enforce the idea that 



3l6 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the assembly period, like nearly every school activity, belongs 
to the pupils, and that their cooperation is positively necessary; 
and to give a few concrete illustrations of what schools have 
accomplished. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
SEX EDUCATION 

The subject discussed in this chapter is both difficult and 
dehcate, — difficult because it deals with matters concerning 
which there is at present considerable difference of opinion, 
and delicate because the propagation of wrong ideas in this 
field involves consequences momentous in their bearing on 
both individual and social life. In fact the whole movement 
of sex education has been seriously questioned. But a book 
dealing with problems of social administration in secondary- 
education that makes adolescence its point of departure and 
attempts to solve these problems in the light of our latest knowl- 
edge concerning the psychology of youth cannot logically omit 
a consideration of the functions and hygiene of sex; for, as 
has been shown, the appearance and development of these 
functions are the central and causal factors in all that occurs 
during the period of adolescence; they are the basis of the mar- 
velous mental and social development which is due at this time. 
Either perversion or arrest of the sex instincts leads to disastrous 
results, the extent of the disaster depending upon the degree 
of perversion or arrest. The plane of the individual life as 
a whole cannot be above the plane of the sex life. 

The purpose of the following discussions is to establish a 
wholesome viewpoint and make suggestions concerning matter 
and methods of instruction. These discussions should be of 
interest to high-school teachers, athletic directors, and parents. 
This chapter does not undertake to furnish knowledge concern- 
ing sexual subjects; this is readily obtained from the many 
reliable books and pamphlets that have appeared recently. 

317 



3l8 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

Both scientists and physicians of authority have done good 
work in presenting the needed information in a simple and scien- 
tific way. It is hoped, too, that the present treatment of 
the subject will make clear its importance and suggest a duty 
to those responsible for the welfare of adolescents. 

Notwithstanding the strong convictions which many social 
workers of international fame and other well-informed and 
thoughtful people now have in favor of a vigorous campaign 
of sex instruction, it must be borne in mind that there are 
grave dangers involved in teaching young people all the facts 
they need to guide them safely through the strong and choppy 
currents of adolescence. The following are some of the possible 
causes of danger: the immature age of the boys and girls at the 
time the instruction must begin in order to forestall with cer- 
tainty serious mistakes on their part; previous false notions 
concerning sex and wrong attitudes toward the subject, due 
to the vulgar sources of information; the arousing of a morbid 
curiosity with regard to perfectly normal matters; thinking 
about personal conditions and functions which ought to be 
kept out of the mind as much as possible; forcing attention 
upon abnormal and repulsive acts, habits, and conditions; and 
the unfortunate reaction of parents and the community, due 
to false ideas concerning the whole subject. 

It is believed that the dangers due to immaturity can be 
guarded against by carefully selecting only the facts that are 
needed in early adolescence and by a skilful and sympathetic 
presentation; this is the testimony of many that have had ex- 
perience. The difficulty arising from previous false ideas and 
standards can be overcome by a serious and scientific handling 
of the subject by a mature and highly respected person. Mor- 
bid curiosity and brooding over matters of sex often result 
from partial or inaccurate information; it is often a case where 
the truth makes the recipient whole. In one respect the nat- 
ural functioning of the sex organs and instincts is like digestion; 



SEX EDUCATION 



319 



in order to be most natural and healthful little attention must 
be given it. In both cases the skilful teacher gives the essen- 
tial facts in a frank full way, then dismisses them from thought 
as completely as possible. The abnormal and repulsive as- 
pects of the subjects which must be included should be kept in 
the background by placing the emphasis on the normal and 
health-giving phases of the subject. It has been found that 
the attitude of parents and the community toward sex instruc- 
tion is determined largely by the way the children feel about 
it and the actual results obtained; that is, if the work is success- 
ful judged from the standpoint of the pupils, no serious criti- 
cism need be feared. Although the present writer believes in 
the urgent need of sex education and seems to have been suc- 
cessful in directing it, he does not wish to be responsible for 
any reader undertaking the work; much depends upon condi- 
tions, and the knowledge, skill, and personality of the teacher. 
As in the case of introducing social dancing, the one under- 
taking it should be moved by a strong conviction and assume 
full responsibility. However, it is hoped that the approach 
to the subject here recommended and the suggestions concern- 
ing methods and the timing of the various phases of the sub- 
ject will aid in making the undertaking not only helpful but 
safe for all concerned. 

The dangers and difficulties incident to sex instruction are 
not likely to appear if the emphasis is continually placed on 
the natural, positive, health-producing, soul-inspiring life- 
processes involved in the maturing of sex; that is, fixing and 
maintaining the proper viewpoint will do much toward in- 
suring success; for nearly all the troubles and dangers incident 
to sex development are due to false perspectives. The adoles- 
cent must understand and feel the marvelous new powers and 
the richness of personality that are now his inheritance if na- 
ture is allowed to do its work; as Hall says, nature now "plays 
upon the soul with its rich orchestra of influences." The 



320 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

one who attempts to instruct high-school pupils in matters per- 
taining to sex, if the instruction is to be helpful and avoid the 
dangers referred to, must keep constantly before him the ideal 
of wholesome and vigorous living and growing. The youth 
must be filled with enthusiasm for a clean, vigorous body. 
He must in some way be impressed with the scientific truth 
that the dawning of the sex instincts and impulses, which 
are the most powerful of all, makes possible the upbuilding of 
all the beautiful traits of character that we call manly and 
womanly, that the role of sex is normal, fundamental, stim- 
ulating, and uplifting, hence the most important natural 
influence for power and good that ever comes to the individual. * 

To make sure that all the beneficent physical, mental, and 
social influences which belong to this period are operative, 
there are a few scientific facts that must in due time be impressed 
upon both boys and girls. Most important on the side of phys- 
ical influences is the stimulating and constructive influence 
of the internal secretions of the more important sex glands, 
which cannot be perverted without disturbing and unfavorable 
results; on the side of mental influence is the health-giving and 
energy-producing effect of pure thinking. From these two 
benign causes there come to the adolescent the vigor, the charm, 
the spirit, and the beauty that are peculiar to this period of 
human development; to miss these is to miss youth with 
its unique joys and aspirations. The "voices and visions" 
and "celestial messengers" of which the poets of youth tell 
us come most surely to those who keep sacred the laws of nature. 
This viewpoint of the subject and this way of emphasizing the 
instruction should do much toward anticipating and prevent- 
ing the difficulties and dangers incident to dealing with this 
delicate subject. 

Very important, also, to the success of the instruction in 
matters of sex is the method of approach; it is vital that the 
subject, as well as all the important facts involved, should be 



SEX EDUCATION 321 

given its true scientific setting. This will add force to the in- 
struction and aid in removing any self-consciousness or morbid 
curiosity that might lurk in the minds of the pupils. The 
scientific approach and setting for all constructive sex educa- 
tion are naturally supplied by the biological sciences. The 
most successful instruction with which the author has had ex- 
perience began by making clear the logical place of reproduc- 
tion among the other life-processes; the natural order seems to 
be, digestion, circulation, assimilation, excretion, respiration, 
reproduction, and sensation. Thus a complete course in bi- 
ology logically includes a study of reproduction, which is the 
ultimate consideration in sex education. Much of the instruc- 
tion preparatory to sexual knowledge had better be incidental. 
The approach is easily made by means of a review of the essen- 
tial organs and functions in plant reproduction; this supplies 
a simple scientific vocabulary, and it is very important that 
the terms of this vocabulary should always be used instead of 
the vulgar terms with which the pupils, especially the boys, 
are pretty sure to be familiar. The next step is a study of the 
various forms of reproduction in the lower forms of animal 
life; then the reproductive function in higher forms, ending 
with mammals, includes practically all the essential facts re- 
quired as a basis of a sound and scientific study of the human 
development of sex. This gradual approach and the supply- 
ing of this scientific background robs the subject of its mystery 
and gives it a wholesome place in the mind of the pupil beside 
the other interesting facts concerning the processes of life; 
the aim is to give the pupil's ideas concerning sex their true 
biological place. 

The above aims and ideals will be realized with more cer- 
tainty if the various phases of the subject are properly timed. 
There are many of the simple facts concerning the origin of 
beings and the difference between the sexes that the child should 
get in the home long before preadolescence; and there is another 



322 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

important body of information that should be imparted on the 
threshold of puberty. Although there are usually no signifi- 
cant conscious sex impulses before the time of puberty, there 
is naturally much active interest in the matter of sex; so the 
whole problem is to direct this spontaneous interest into whole- 
some channels. In general it is highly advantageous that 
the essential facts and considerations respecting sex be instilled 
into the youthful mind before they have taken on the emotional 
garb; this will aid greatly in keeping the attitude of the learner 
strictly scientific. Since all emotions have an instinctive basis, 
this means that much instruction must be given before the 
appearance of the powerful instincts; this is not only in the 
interest of a scientific, matter-of-fact reception of the instruc- 
tion, but is necessary to the safety of the individual pupils. 
As some one has said, "better a year too early than an hour 
too late" in these vital matters. 

Suggestions with regard to the age best suited to the various 
phases of sex instruction imply an accurate knowledge on 
the part of the instructor, whether parent or teacher, respect- 
ing the on-coming of the various stages in adolescent develop- 
ment. The problem is considerably complicated, so far as 
group teaching is concerned, by reason of the great variability 
in the time of maturing, as noted in our study of adolescence, 
due to individual differences, health, race, and social status. 
It will be remembered that studies made thus far on the age 
of sex maturity indicate that the largest number of boys 
mature between the ages of thirteen and fourteen and a 
half, and girls between twelve and thirteen. But for prac- 
tical purposes it is more important to note that the maturing 
period for American boys varies from eleven and a half to six- 
teen and a half, and American girls from ten and a half to 
fifteen and a half (King); this may be thought of as a sort of 
normal variation, extreme cases of early and late maturing 
occurring occasionally outside of the periods here given. 



SEX EDUCATION 323 

The following suggestions relative to the age best suited to 
introduce boys and girls to the various phases of sex education 
are given with much hesitancy; for there is not yet accumulated 
a sufficient body of experience to warrant any dogmatic state- 
ments, and the experts who have attacked this aspect of the 
problem are not fully agreed. 

Taking all available data into consideration, it would seem 
that during the period of preadolescence, when the barbaric 
characteristics of the human race are most manifest, when the 
average boy especially exhibits more proclivities toward vul- 
garity than at any other time, there should be a rather limited 
amount of direct teaching; however, there may well be much 
indirect instruction connected with nature study, plant breed- 
ing, and health. The minds of boys and girls at this age should 
be free from the subject of sex as much of the time as possible; 
this can be brought about more surely if their natural curios- 
ity concerning a few matters has been satisfied; and this is 
their natural right, and lays a proper foundation for their com- 
plete sex education. 

We may be sure that the preadolescent, especially the boy, 
will get the desired information and explanations somehow; 
and, because of the sources, the information he gets is nearly 
always false and usually colored in most unwholesome ways. 
To the question as to who gave them their first information 
concerning the subject of sex, Dr. M. J. Exner received an- 
swers from 676 college men; he classified 617 of the sources 
as bad 57 as good. Among the former were boy associates 
544, girl associates ;^^, hired men 22, stories and talk 9; among 
the good sources were parents and relatives 27, brothers 14, 
teachers 3, and lecturers 3. Of these 676 college men "91.5 
per cent received their first permanent impressions about sex 
from unwholesome sources." Certainly there will be much 
less liabiHty to harmful results when the preadolescent is given 
the information which his curiosity craves in a natural, frank, 



324 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

open manner by some one that he respects and trusts. This 
information will tend to dispel the mystery which so often sur- 
rounds the subject and thus aid in keeping the mind free from 
thoughts concerning it. Dr. Exner says that it is only by 
reading the answers to his questionnaires that one can get the 
tremendous force of the figures which he has compiled; he 
is certain that "these sources of early sex information have 
distorted the whole question, poisoned the mind and imagina- 
tion, sensualized the whole atmosphere of the life, led to destruc- 
tive sex habits, and caused untold mental misery." 

There can be no doubt that the natural teacher at this time 
for the boy is his father, and for the girl, her mother. But 
both observation and the studies that have been made similar 
to those of Dr. Exner indicate that a very small per cent of 
children get their information concerning sex from their parents. 
According to a statement based on the answers to Dr. Exner's 
questions and issued by the United States Public Health Ser- 
vice, only four per cent of 677 college men secured their first 
information relative to matters of sex from their parents. Other 
studies show that boys are more successful than girls in getting 
information of some kind concerning these matters; and, on 
the other hand, it has been found that mothers are generally 
more thoughtful for the welfare of their daughters than fathers 
for the safety of their sons. 

An easy-going ignorance or carelessness concerning results, 
or a lack of courage accounts for the shameful shortcomings 
of parents; hence in most cases the only safe source of informa- 
tion at present for a great majority of American children is 
some skilful, conscientious teacher in the public school. It is 
hoped that this is only a transition period, and that soon parents 
will be sufiiciently informed and willing to undertake this impor- 
tant work with their children. Of one thing we may be certain: 
the preadolescent will know. The only question is, who shall 
inform him? It is much more important who shall teach him 



SEX EDUCATION 325 

than how much he shall be taught, the topic now to be discussed. 
At the end of the period under consideration, that is, on the 
threshold of adolescence, some one with adequate knowledge, 
skill, and conviction should come forward and furnish informa- 
tion on at least the following subjects. 

First and most fundamental, both boys and girls should be 
informed respecting the new life upon which they are to enter; 
and especially should they be made to realize the great possi- 
bilities for personal development in all things that make for 
health, mental vigor, and the richer and finer elements of char- 
acter. They must be made to understand that all of the more 
distinctly human and desirable powers and traits will now come 
to them in a perfectly natural way, providing the laws of their 
development are not perverted or in any way interfered with. 
This instruction should include scientific information with 
regard to the value and significance of sex in later life, some of 
the simpler and more fundamental facts concerning reproduc- 
tion, and the relation between these and proper living. If 
it can be done tactfully, there should be intimations relative 
to the new thoughts and feelings characteristic of the period 
and the dangers incident thereto; because the instincts and im- 
pulses are so powerful, they are not only all important but 
also dangerous. Adolescents should be made to appreciate 
that self-control is at all times one of the most valuable assets 
in life and that it is now vitally connected with the fullest de- 
velopment of all the desirable manly and womanly qualities. 

It is beheved by those who have given much thought to sex 
education, that, on the physical side, a pretty definite knowl- 
edge concerning internal secretions (scientifically called hor- 
mones) and their functions is needed to furnish a scientific basis 
for much practical instruction; the thinking on the part of 
adolescents that is Ukely to result from this knowledge cannot 
be other than wholesome, because of the appeal that it makes 
to their natural desire for personal efficiency and charm. The 



326 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

instruction concerning the internal secretions of the sex glands 
should always follow the study of secretion in general. For 
the present purp>ose it seems best to classify secretions as 
external (saliva, perspiration, gastric juice), internal (from the 
thyroid glands and the adrenal bodies), and both external and 
internal (from the liver, pancreas, testicles, and ovaries). 
When pupils realize the marvelously powerful and subtile in- 
fluence of many of the internal secretions of the body, they 
are prepared to understand and properly evaluate the subtile 
and potent influence of the internal secretions of the sex glands, 
for this knowledge follows as a natural corollary of the whole 
subject of internal secretions in general. The teaching of this 
subject can easily be reinforced on the practical side by analogies 
drawn from some of the animals with which the pupils are 
famiKar. It must be definitely understood that the great wealth 
of vigor, endurance, charm, and the finer spiritual qualities 
which are due at this time is strictly conditioned upon the full 
and natural internal functioning of these glands, whose matur- 
ing is the central fact of all the changes that we include under 
the comprehensive term adolescence. It must be brought 
home to the boy in some effective manner that his hard mus- 
cles, which defy the blow of his opponent in boxing, his fiery 
eye, which signifies spirit and inspires confidence, his undaunted 
courage, which shines forth on the athletic field and always 
makes a real force to be reckoned with, and all the virile qual- 
ities, which belong to man's estate are definitely and surely 
conditioned by the proper functioning of the sex glands; the 
girl must be made to reaHze that her new beauty of contour, 
her increased charms, her vivacity, her subtile power over 
those of the other sex, her abounding resourcefulness, and 
her splendid womanly traits, are all the direct and natural 
result of the sudden and vigorous awakening of these important 
glands; and to make sure of these beneficent effects, both must 
understand that the blood cannot in any way be deprived of 



SEX EDUCATION 32*7 

the secretions. This knowledge is necessary to make clear 
the constructive possibilities of adolescence and to furnish a 
scientific basis for a safe physical and mental regimen; the 
definite warnings that should now be sounded get their mean- 
ing and force from a clear understanding of the functions of 
the internal secretions. 

There are a few other facts connected with the development 
of a normal boy at this time that he should know, otherwise 
he does not get "a square deal." If he is to be guarded against 
unnecessary worry, and possibly against contemptible quacks 
who are scheming to profit by his ignorance, he must be 
given clear and carefully conveyed information concerning 
nocturnal, diurnal, and involuntary emissions; and he should 
know the relation of diet, exercise, and habits of thought to 
these phenomena. Several writers insist that boys at this age 
should be definitely warned against unscrupulous doctors. There 
can be no doubt about the wisdom of giving every boy a clear 
statement with regard to habits that he is in danger of falling 
into and of their natural consequences; however, much care 
should be exercised not to dwell on such subjects or give an 
exaggerated account of the consequences. For the intelligent 
boy, accurate knowledge with respect to internal secretions is 
full of wholesome suggestions on this point, furnishing him 
with scientific reasons for proper conduct. The sympathetic 
and persuasive teacher can greatly aid the boy in his struggles 
with himself by impressing upon him the significant and sus- 
taining influence of purity of thought and ideals. Repressed 
feelings and impulses are not necessarily killed; life must be 
filled with healthy activities and ideals in order to be safe and 
strong and clean. 

Girls, too, at this time are entitled to careful instruction as 
to their developing nature and needs. This should of course 
be given by their mothers; however, if the mothers are remiss 
in this important matter, then the duty seems to foil to some 



328 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

kind woman teacher whom the girls respect and trust. They 
should in all fairness have previous information relative to the 
new physical phenomenon that comes at this stage in their 
development and the care of themselves in connection thereto. 
Their teacher of physiology should always be a woman, and 
she should give them sufficient instruction concerning the 
anatomy and location of the internal sex organs to make clear 
the relation of proper dressing and exercise to the welfare of 
these organs and their health. It is also greatly to be desired 
that forceful and sympathetic friends will join mothers in help- 
ing the girls to build high ideals of modesty and reserve; this 
is a matter of personal influence, calling for supreme tact and 
deep interest on the part of those who undertake this kindly 
mission. 

There are other very important matters concerning which 
boys should early get correct and convincing information, un- 
pleasant as these topics may be for discussion. At about 
the beginning of middle adolescence, normally at about fif- 
teen, boys should be taught the scientifically established 
facts relative to the three sexual diseases and the direful indi- 
vidual and social consequences. The teaching concerning this 
matter, although conservative, must be given in no uncertain 
terms; for, if young men do not direct their steps during the 
next few years with eyes wide open, some one is shamefully 
to blame; the pathetic and horrible consequences of wrong- 
doing are so far-reaching and involve the innocent and unsus- 
pecting to such an extent that duty in this matter is clear and 
imperative. It is well, too, that the false notion which the 
youth often gets concerning "sexual necessity" should be 
forestalled by giving him the findings of science. Let us also 
hope that there will always be at hand some one with courage 
and influence to deal a death blow, on fitting occasions, to 
the ancient and unfair idea of the double standard of morality. 

In addition to what is suggested above, it may be said that 



SEX EDUCATION 329 

many scientists and social reformers are fully persuaded that 
all young people should be informed touching the latest knowl- 
edge available on the subject of eugenics. If modern eugenics 
is to be taught, the teaching will be more effective if delayed 
imtil the beginning of late adolescence; this delay is in the 
interest of more mature handhng of the subject and the prin- 
ciple of supplying information when it is likely to be needed. 

A sUght insight into adolescent nature is sufficient to make 
evident that mere knowledge, however accurate and com- 
plete, relative to the matters under consideration in this chap- 
ter is not enough to insure right conduct. Scientific knowl- 
edge furnishes only the foundation. As has already been in- 
timated, there must be the sanest kind of teaching with respect 
to moral standards, a toning up of the will, and an appeal, in 
the case of boys, to their chivalry and altruism. It must be 
kept in mind at this point that "preaching" will not be effec- 
tive in deaUng with the adolescent; he must be skilfully led 
into wholesome lines of thought, and he must be encouraged 
to give full play to his good impulses rather than trust to check- 
ing the bad impulses. The principles developed in the next 
chapter should supplement what is said here. 

In the preceding discussions of the subjects to be taught 
and their order and time of introduction, the emphasis has been 
continually placed on the positive aspects of the problem, the 
only exception being the teaching concerning the sexual diseases. 
This is an apphcation of the principle which the author believes 
is fimdamental in dealing with adolescents, a principle im- 
posed by the very nature of adolescence; that is, that all 
efforts on behalf of adolescents must be positive and construc- 
tive rather than negative and critical. It assumes that at this 
time we have a great and wonder-working force that must 
have scope and guidance rather than suppression and restraint; 
and that sex development is the dynamics of adolescence. Thus 
everything must be done to give the evolution of sex its normal 



330 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

place in the scheme of human development. It must be under- 
stood that the sex instincts as such are neither good nor bad- 
all depends upon the way they are made to function; for these 
instincts reach down into the most primitive soil of human 
nature and they flower in the highest human qualities, 
true idealism appearing only with the unfolding of sex into 
consciousness. When properly understood, sex life and re- 
production takes on a sacredness peculiar to any subject of 
momentous importance to the physical and moral welfare of 
human beings. It must be raised from all its vulgar and re- 
pulsive associations to its normal place as the source and im« 
pelling motive of nearly all the social virtues as well as the 
many human qualities which attract and charm. 

On the pedagogical side, sex education is a problem of method 
and spirit. The silent treatment which the subject has re- 
ceived, together with the perverted notions which have grown 
up and the low associations which have surrounded it, has made 
the matter of method and mode of approach of very great im- 
portance, consequently demanding thoughtful consideration 
and skill in handling; and nearly all recent writers and students 
of the subject agree with Dr. Winfield S. Hall of Northwestern 
University that "the only rational cure for the present social 
conditions is to be found in education." It is encouraging to 
note that Dr. Exner's study, before referred to, leads him to 
believe that there is a "rapidly growing interest in sex educa- 
tion on the part of high-school authorities and teachers." 
About 1 8 per cent of the 761 college students giving informa- 
tion as to the source of their sex instruction mention their high 
school. Dr. Exner further concludes from his study that edu- 
cation is "a reconstructive, redirecting force after the sex in- 
stinct has been allowed to become seriously misdirected, as 
well as serving to keep this instinct in normal channels from 
childhood up." 

The following suggestions with regard to sex instruction are 



SEX EDUCATION 331 

based on the experience of the author and many others, and 
they seem to be m accord with the latest teachings of adoles- 
cent psychology. 

(i) So far as interest is concerned, the teacher can depend 
largely upon the natural interest and curiosity of young people 
in any subject that touches life in general and especially that 
affects their own personal interests and welfare. The success- 
ful teacher will take advantage of this natural curiosity, guide 
it into wholesome channels, and keep it from becoming morbid 
and disquieting. This can best be done by a simple, matter- 
of-fact, scientific presentation; an unembarrassed and matter- 
of-course manner on the part of the teacher will tend to allay 
any mysterious or unwholesome notions that may disturb the 
pupils. 

(2) In the treatment of all sex subjects with adolescents the 
teacher will do well to keep in mind the significance of the new 
birth to the individual, its influence on his thinking, sympathies, 
and ambitions, as well as on his passions and emotions. The 
awakening of the new power to reason suggests that one of 
its functions is to supersede and control the instincts and check 
the impulses. Any teaching at this time that does not make 
the most of the budding ideals and the deepening convictions 
and the new altruism falls far short of its possibilities; psychic 
evolution must be made to react helpfully on the vigorous 
biological developments that are in progress. These sugges- 
tions apply especially to the latter part of middle adolescence. 
The dictum of the new education, "Youth is the golden age 
of life," is just as suggestive in connection with sex education 
as it is when lighting any other dark spot in the field of secondary 
education. Dr. Winfield S. Hall, one of the highest authorities 
on this matter, says: "In the presentation of no subject does 
the teacher require a greater knowledge and insight into the 
psychology of youth than is required in the teaching of sex 
hygiene." 



332 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

(3) Although it is not necessary to teach a great amount of 
botany or zoology, the teaching concerning sex should be based 
on a broad knowledge of biology; much of the instruction may 
well be given as illustrative of important biological principles; 
that is, much of the instruction can be made more impressive 
and at the same time kept clear of undesirable suggestiveness 
if it is made incidental to other teaching or incorporated in 
regular lessons in biology and physiology. In other words, 
nearly all the instruction may be given as completing the pupils' 
knowledge of nature and nature's methods. If these sugges- 
tions are sound, it follows that (a) sex education is not to be 
added as a new subject for study, and that (b) part of the 
teacher's equipment is a firm grasp of biological principles 
and a practical knowledge of human physiology and hygiene. 

(4) The language in which the information is conveyed should 
be carefully chosen and always scientific; the term "sex edu- 
cation" and the like will of course be avoided, as this would 
tend to give the whole matter a place apart in the pupil's 
thinking, whereas the aim is to incorporate it with his body of 
general scientific knowledge. Much of the instruction can be 
given as informal talks which occur in their proper scientific 
setting. The lesson should close with other than sex topics, 
so that the pupils will leave the classroom thinking and talking 
about other things and thus be relieved of possible embarrass- 
ment. The thoughtful teacher will not use language or deal 
with topics that tend to suggest sensual imagery. It will 
be remembered, too, that, contrary to our aim in general edu- 
cation to teach in such a way as to stimulate further thought 
and investigation, we must try to satisfy curiosity completely 
and thus lessen the danger of brooding over matters of sex. 
It is best not to ask pupils to discuss any sex topics before 
the class; but they should be encouraged to ask questions 
in writing, some of which will be answered before the class, 
while a few may best be discussed privately. The morbid 



SEX EDUCATION ^^^ 

and pathological aspects of the subject must never be em- 
phasized with high-school pupils. The teacher will always 
guard carefully the self-respect of every pupil in the group. 

Social workers and other thoughtful people who have contact 
with the actual problems of individual and social welfare are 
united in their opinion that the only rational hope for a real 
and important forward movement of the human race at pres- 
ent is sex education; this gives great importance to the ques- 
tion, "on whom shall rest the responsibility for the instruction?" 
In the foregoing discussion it has been assumed that the public- 
school teachers are the ones best qualified for this delicate work; 
this is the opinion of nearly all who have expressed themselves 
publicly. There can be no doubt that logically the mother 
should instruct her daughter and the father his son; but all 
the statistics that we have thus far prove that this happens 
in a comparatively small number of families. In their replies 
to Dr. Exner, "many men expressed much bitterness against 
their parents for having failed them in this respect." This 
has forced the conclusion that teachers must represent the 
parents and act for them in this matter until a generation of 
parents has been properly prepared for their duty. It is 
thought that we are entering "a transitional period of two or 
three decades" during which "the great truths of life must 
be taught by the schools"; after this it is hoped the parents 
will come into their own; such would be an ideal outcome of 
the new movement. 

By training, the teachers of the biological sciences, as already 
intimated, should be best fitted for this work; nearly all the 
facts to be taught lie in this field of knowledge. But, by reason 
of his position, there is no one connected with the modern 
high school that is as likely to be practically effective as the 
director of physical education; this is especially true concern- 
ing those in charge of the boys on the various teams. The 
athletic coach, if fitted for the work, is in a position to do much 



334 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

incidental and effective teaching relative to matters of sex; 
because of the nature of his work, he is in closer touch with the 
boys than are the other members of the faculty, and can speak 
with more persuasive authority on the relation between right 
living and success; and the coach can hold before his players a 
motive to right conduct that is likely to make a powerful ap- 
peal. Then, too, the vigorous training that he demands of 
his boys greatly aids in reducing the sex strain and makes 
right conduct much easier for the adolescent. Whoever may 
undertake the work, the most important qualifications, as in 
other cases where personal influence determines, are a strong 
and pleasing personaHty, tact, and an overpowering convic- 
tion concerning its vital import. Right conduct is the ulti- 
mate aim, and this is most likely to be realized through a strong 
personal appeal. 



CHAPTER XIX 
MORAL EDUCATION 

It is entirely fitting and perfectly logical, that, in the dis- 
cussion of adolescent problems, a chapter on "Sex Education" 
should be followed by a consideration of the problem of moral 
education. Many times in the preceding chapters the close 
and causal connection between sex development and the other 
adolescent characteristics has been noted; and it has been 
pointed out that many of the impulses and traits which appear 
at this time are, when scientifically considered, really secondary 
sex characters. The best authorities on the subject are agreed 
that a very large part of the prevalent personal, domestic, and 
social wrong-living and immorality has its origin in sex or some 
of its manifestations; and they are also agreed that many of 
those physical and mental powers, which are at the foundation 
of our greatest happiness and satisfaction, our most beautiful, 
altruistic, and spiritual qualities, and our sublime aspirations 
and ideals appear only at the time and in connection with the 
proper evolution of the sex functions and that sex is the motor 
power behind these desirable human traits. These facts are 
illustrative of the complete imity of human nature. 

No argument is needed to estabhsh the proposition, that the 
building of moral character is the paramount aim of all worthy 
education. If the public schools of this country fail in this 
supreme function, we know from the lessons of history what 
our doom will be. The keen realization of the momentous 
issues involved, combined with an appreciation of the signifi- 
cance of adolescence in the development of the highest moral 
living of which the individual is capable, has recently led many 

335 



336 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

excellent students of education to propose and urge that there 
be placed in every high school "distinct courses in moral in- 
struction;" and serious and worthy efforts have been made 
to provide the material for such courses and suggest the method 
of instruction suited to putting them into operation. It is 
difficult to say who are the orthodox in this matter, those who 
believe in the efficacy of direct and explicit moral instruction, 
or those who lack faith in its potency and even see possible 
dangers that may grow out of such formal instruction. How- 
ever, for several years the question has been before us, "Can 
morality be taught?" No discussions of either adolescence 
or of problems of secondary education that aim at some degree 
of completeness can very well omit a consideration of the means 
and the possibilities of moral training; for true morality, as 
has been shown, is not possible until adolescence is reached, 
and, if it fails to appear during these formative years, the battle 
is lost. It is at the time of their sojourn in high school, too, 
that young people begin to have a genuine interest in national 
as well as personal ideals, ideals of liberty, justice, equality, 
freedom, and the like. Thus from the standpoint of training 
in the American virtues included under good citizenship, as 
well as personal morals, the high-school age is important^ 

What shall be the answer to the question just stated? No, 
morality cannot be directly and expUcitly taught. At least 
this is the negative thesis here defended. Morahty is not to 
any great extent an affair of the intellect; it takes its rise from 
foundations and motives much deeper; the forces which govern 
conduct are largely instinctive and emotional, and they go 
back for their origin to the entire past of the human race. As 
Bergson affirms, " we may think with only a small part of our 
past, but it is with our entire past that we desire, will, and act." 
There is nothing in genetic psychology that should lead us to 
believe that we can build strong moral characters by studying 
about morahty and discussing moral precepts, any more than 



MORAL EDUCATION 337 

we can develop a love for beautiful poetry by teaching its his- 
tory and discussing poetical principles, or develop strong and 
responsive muscles by teaching muscle anatomy and the laws 
of physiological growth and development. What makes a 
good ball player? a good musician? a good linguist? a good 
typist? It is practice; if any instruction is needed, it is in- 
cidental; experiments have repeatedly shown that instruction 
to be most effective must grow out of and be suggested by 
practice. What makes a good man? It is being good; and 
men are good, if at all, under good conditions and good in- 
fluences. 

Readers who are famihar with Professor G. H. Palmer's 
essays on ''Ethical and Moral Instruction in the Schools" 
and John Dewey's essay on "Moral Principles of Education" 
will see their influence in some of the following paragraphs. 

As a subject of thought or discussion, morality has at least 
two aspects: one may be called the psychological; and the 
other, the social aspect. The one fixes the attention on the 
attitudes, disposition, and intentions of the individual; the 
other focuses on the manner in which the individual reacts on 
his social environment, being a matter of conduct only. Now 
psychologists inform us, as stated above, that conduct has 
its ultimate origin in the native instincts and impulses; hence, 
if we are to influence conduct in any fundamental and forma- 
tive way, it must be through the instincts and impulses. 
If the desired conduct is secured by any other means, the re- 
sults are likely to be imitative and mechanical, because the 
deeper psychological causes have been ignored. For example, 
if, in our ardor to render moral help, we appeal to the judg- 
ment and the reasoning powers, we must remember that the 
workings of these are colored and given their peculiar bias by 
individual temperament, that temperament is but another name 
for emotional habits, and that all of the emotions out of which 
these fundamental habits are formed have as their source and 



338 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

their constant and impelling stimulus one or more of the primi- 
tive instincts. So much are both the moral and intellectual 
life a matter of temperament that, in the opinion of William 
James, even men's philosophies are determined by "their tem- 
peramental cravings and refusals." The psychology of this 
matter has been crystallized in the aphorism, "the wish is 
father to the thought." 

Again, if in our zeal for the moral welfare of the adolescent 
we appeal to his conscience, we must bear in mind that con- 
science subjectively considered is but a group of intuitive feel- 
ings, "certain emotions," as Spencer expresses it, "responding 
to right and wrong conduct." 

All of this is extremely fundamental in any study of moral 
education; for these psychological considerations seem to say 
plainly, put not your trust very greatly in any kind of intellec- 
tual appeal. On the other hand, our study of adolescence 
has taught us that the instincts and feelings are reached most 
surely through the imagination, when images supply the im- 
pelling forces, or through concrete social situations in which 
hfe, with its varied and complex elements, furnishes the stimuli 
that prompt instinctive and character-forming conduct. This 
doctrine has also b'>:en crystallized: moral qualities and virtues 
are caught not taught. 

It is suggestive to recall at this point that morals, like lan- 
guage, are social in their origin ; and consequently any attempt 
to treat morality as a purely individual affair cannot be scien- 
tific or effective. Every one that we hope to influence must 
be thought of as a social indi\ddual in whom are continually 
meeting myriad lines of spiritual force, all having their origin 
in other social individuals and groups, some contemporary 
and some belonging to distant ages. 

It must be kept in mind as fundamental, too, that the division 
between conscious and unconscious rectitude in conduct is a wa- 
vering line. This does not mean that we are to think of the 



MORAL EDUCATION 339 

adolescent as unmindful of conduct or uncritical as to right and 
wrong; he naturally gives much thought to the matter of conduct, 
and, so far as mere thinking is concerned, he is exceedingly 
discriminating; with puberty there begins to develop the power 
and the tendency to judge action by motives rather than by 
mere consequences (the preadolescent standards) and to take 
into account mitigating circumstances. To say the line be- 
tween conscious and unconscious right action is wavering is 
equivalent to saying that the most wholesome and most forma- 
tive conduct on the part of youth is that which is instinctive, 
spontaneous, and ebulient, resulting from natural stimuli sup- 
plied in concrete form by his social environment, rather than 
that conduct which is premeditated and critically thought out, 
either by or for the individual. Moreover, the one who per- 
force follows a straight and shut-in path develops neither en- 
thusiasm for his journey and its ultimate objective, nor does 
he gain power to ascend the hill Difficulty or courage to fight 
Apollyon from his path. Bunyan was too much of a psy- 
chologist, as well as theologian, to confine his hero day after 
day to any straight and narrow way. It is the zest with which 
an act is performed and its emotional setting that gives it 
formative value and tends to make it become a habitual mode 
of action. 

We should not ask our young people to be "slaves to 
motives and reasons"; nor can we expect them to "rivit the 
moral life to logic"; nor is it natural for them to control their 
conduct by any system of restraints and inhibitions; but, as 
urged in the last chapter, the highest moral Hving of which 
each individual is capable will be most naturally and most 
surely brought about by a comparatively free, wholesome, 
joyous, and above all vigorous exercise of all the physical, 
mental, and social powers that make for bodily and spiritual 
wellbeing. It is a case, not of damming the turbulent streams 
of adolescence, but of keeping them within the channels, where 



340 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

they fructify and fortify the individual Ufe for its unique con- 
tinuance and work. 

If this analysis is correct, it seems to exclude the notion that 
much can be accomplished in the field of morality by direct 
moral instruction. On the other hand, it appears to suggest 
that much can be done by suppl3dng the right conditions, — 
conditions that provide for natural physical, mental, and so- 
cial responses on the part of youth, the hope always being 
that these responses will become habitual and result in a dis- 
position to choose the right and reject the wrong. If we 
are successful in this, we have as a consummation real moral 
character, capable of unconscious rectitude, "standing four 
square to all the winds that blow," instead of the careful, 
vacillating, thought-perplexed Hamlet that might result were 
we successful in getting impulsive youth to make conscience 
his sole guide and bring all matters of conduct to the critical 
court of introspection; that is, the introspective method of 
determining conduct would seem to be the logical outcome 
of direct and explicit moral instruction if successful. Those 
who aim at this method appear to ignore a fundamental law 
in human development; namely, that life of any kind is 
kindled only at the torch of the life that is desired. 

Palmer reduces the whole matter to a sound fundamental 
principle when he says, ''According as the thing undertaken 
includes a creative element and is intended to give expression 
to the personal life of some one, dependence upon any system 
or method that makes a direct appeal to consciousness becomes 
increasingly dangerous." Beyond question, the purpose in 
moral education — nay, in all education — is to create moral 
character; that is, to fix moral modes of feeling, thinking, and 
willing; and the habitual moral conduct which we hope to 
establish must, if it is real, give rise to the inner, personal 
life of the individual. Palmer is right, too, because the 
ultimate thing sought in this case is not knowledge but 



MORAL EDUCATION 341 

conduct, and not conduct that results from careful choosing 
and calculating, but conduct that is instinctive, sure, and firm. 
It would seem to be the part of wisdom to lay direct hold on 
the thing desired when this is possible. 

Further, when we attempt to reach conduct through the intel- 
lect, we evidently have in mind conscious action; and, as Palmer 
points out in his discussion of the matter, there are large tracts 
of practical life that lie altogether beyond the field and con- 
trol of consciousness. For more than a third of a century 
psychologists have recognized the subconscious self as an entity 
that must always be reckoned with in our dealing with human 
beings; from this region are continually welling up obscure but 
potent influences in the form of unaccountable impulses, in- 
hibitions, hidden motives, passions, and prejudices. There 
are unmistakable signs that in this region of "subconscious 
incubations" are located the latent germs of much of our non- 
rational conduct, which plays such a large part in our lives; 
it is the non-rational, automatic, impulsive part of conduct 
that is of supreme interest to him who would wield a formative 
influence in the field of morals. There are good reasons for 
believing that the entire stream of consciousness, especially 
the billows of feeling, passion, and emotion, has here in this 
deep and unexplored realm of the soul a reservoir for the storage 
of those rich and complex elements that seemingly without 
call reappear as moral conduct and character. This is one 
way of justifying Dr. Bagley's contention that, "as the instinct 
is basic to reason and sometimes overrides it, so the affective 
[or emotional] elements in an ideal overshadow the intellectual 
factors." If this account of the part played by the subcon- 
scious self is correct, a direct appeal to the intellect by means 
of moral instruction is, to say the least, seriously inadequate. 

The attempt to aid young people by means of direct moral 
instruction seems to take for granted that in some way one 
can make a spiritual gift; it appears to be an endeavor to hand 



342 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

over ready-made something which it is hoped will be of moral 
value to the recipient. This surely is a false assumption. As 
a result of living together during the past generations, man 
has discovered through social experience that there are certain 
modes of conduct on which the welfare of the individual, taken 
in the long run, depends; this wholesome manner of acting 
has come to be embodied in a code of moral laws or precepts; 
they are far from being arbitrary prescriptions imposed by 
authority; rather they are natural laws, merely telHng what 
conduct works best. These moral standards are the result of 
a long race struggle; and they have finally been accepted as 
guides by the successful individual, usually after some sort of 
a struggle similar, perhaps, in kind to that of the race. When 
obtained in this way, these moral decrees have real and prac- 
tical significance. The individual must win his social and 
moral inheritance if it is to be of value. Exercise of moral 
faculties is just as vital as exercise of the physical powers and 
organs; the biological sciences teach the inevitable tragedies 
that result from a lack of effort; and moral atrophy is just as 
certain as physical loss of power. The law of work or struggle 
is part of the law of evolution. Christian people are wont 
to quote Paul: "work out your own salvation." Some would 
have us tell youth in what salvation consists; perhaps they will 
listen, but are we sure they will learn? As in other affairs 
of nature, what costs nothing comes to nothing. Moral truth 
is a food that cannot be bolted whole, it must be assimilated in 
order to give real growth and strength; to this end the moral 
muscles must be used with vigor. Dr. Bagley shows his knowl- 
edge of youthful nature when he asserts that every overt at- 
tempt to force adult standards "is bound to be abortive." 
"There seems to be almost an instinctive tendency among 
youth to resent the implication that they have anything to 
learn from the experience of their elders;" and according to 
St. Paul's doctrine, are they altogether wrong? 



MORAL EDUCATION 343 

Confidence in moral instruction seems to be based on the 
further assumption that knowing what is right will lead to 
doing what is right; whereas only a slight knowledge of ado- 
lescent nature is necessary to make one aware of the serious 
hiatus which is common between the two. This notion again 
ignores the fact that the adolescent is a creature of instincts 
and impulses; and that, because the impulses spring from man's 
physical and psychical natures, they are in a certain sense no 
more under his direct control than the other forces of nature. 
The adolescent naturally does what he wants to do and what 
seems at the time easiest. That he is a being of impulses 
suggests that we must manage to set loose and give scope to 
his good impulses, and he has many. Sometimes we will aid 
in transmuting the lower values into the higher; and some- 
times, as in sex education, we will assist him in controlling one 
emotion or instinct by another. The good impulses and the 
higher values naturally grow out of healthy activities; and 
careful study of the matter shows that many of the instincts 
and emotions that must be held in check have their correspond- 
ing instinctive or emotional antidote; for example, developing 
adolescent altruism may overcome instinctive selfishness, 
sympathy should displace cruelty, self-control supported by 
pride may rob anger of its danger, chivalry is a natural correc- 
tive for the sex impulses, emulation and the desire to please may 
act as a counterpoise for any impulse that we wish to control, 
and with some during adolescence, as we have seen, the reli- 
gious motive is very powerful and may ''turn aside the fiery 
darts of the wicked." We must not make the mistake of think- 
ing that repressed desires and emotions are killed; they are 
the noxious growth ready to spring up again when the forced 
repression, either intellectual or other, has ceased; they must 
be displaced by some wholesome plant of vigorous growth, 
and for the adolescent this plant must always be found in his 
social environment. To change the form of expression, his 



344 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

ideas must be emotionalized and become dynamic ideals by 
some kind of genuine social experience. 

The analogy between moral laws and physical laws alluded 
to above is interesting and significant; but there is a very im- 
portant difference between the workings of these two sets of 
laws, which is also interesting and significant. The laws which 
pertain to life and character are much more complex; and, 
because of this and because of the uniqueness of individual 
human nature, the same experiences will result very differently 
for different individuals. Thus we can have no assurance 
that because a moral principle or precept has worked it will 
always work. We must inculcate morality by the laboratory 
method, but we must not expect laboratory precision and cer- 
tainty of results. Life and personality are ever-creative, hence 
the eternal variation in the moral realm. All these considera- 
tions emphasize the futility of trusting greatly to definite pre- 
cepts. We are wont to quote Shakespeare: "to thine own self 
be true;" then some one proceeds to tell us what moral truth 
is in the abstract. Thus again we reach the conclusion that 
morality is to be learned only by practice. It is an art. Ethics 
is the corresponding science that will be very interesting and 
possibly helpful later. 

Sometimes it would almost seem that the advocates of some 
system of direct moral instruction are confusing moral ideas 
and ideas about morality. There is of course no psychological 
reason why ideas concerning morality should have any more 
influence on conduct than ideas concerning anything else. 
There is nothing inherent in the nature of such ideas that 
insures a vital union with character, and without this union 
nothing will result in terms of life. Learning the moral vo- 
cabulary is a very different thing from learning moral values; 
one is likely to be largely a matter of words and ideas, which 
by themselves do not constitute a vital force; the other comes 
in the way that we learn other values, which is through actual 



ORAL EDUCATION 345 

contact and experience in the field where the values are deter- 
mined, in this case amid the interplay of human relationships. 

There are certain dangers that naturally beset explicit moral 
instruction; the nature of these dangers varies with the char- 
acter of the individual. For example, a sensitive nature, 
at the time when the moral sense makes its appearance, would 
be likely, under the stress of vigorous moral instruction, to 
develop a morbid sensitiveness or an exaggerated punctilious- 
ness, effects which are very unfortunate for both the individual 
and his associates. L. W. Kline studied the returns from 2594 
children, and, according to Hall, many of these "bear unmis- 
takable marks that in homes and schools moralization has been 
excessive and has produced a sentimental t3rpe of morality and 
often a feverish desire to express ethical views." This danger, 
too, is greatest in the case of adolescents of the finest fiber. 
The opposite danger, also unfortunate for the individual and 
the community, lies in the fact that normal, healthy children 
become hardened against talk that savors of preaching; there 
comes a time when they prefer little talk and much action. 
This indifference to what is said on so vital a matter may lead 
to lack of responsiveness to legitimate moral claims. 

But we are repeatedly reminded that "youth is the battle- 
ground of the moral life;" and when a serious battle is on we 
feel that we must take a hand and join forces against the enemy. 
If we are not sure of rendering aid by any direct method, can 
anything be done? Yes, there is much to do, and adolescence 
is the time to do it. To be permanently effective, the help 
rendered must be social-psychological. These high-school 
boys and girls have been born into a social environment which 
is already largely determined, and this environment has among 
its elements certain standards of conduct to which they are 
expected to conform. Hence the whole problem is to get the 
pupils to accept this moral world which awaits them and adjust 
themselves to its demands. To do this, the school, the family, 



346 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

the church, and any other institution with authority and in- 
fluence must reproduce as far as possible the conditions of the 
best surrounding social Ufe. It is not a matter of teaching 
morals but of getting individuals and groups to live morals. 
To this end we try to create a "moral atmosphere," which they 
are to breathe. The school with a high moral tone teaches 
in a subtile and indirect way all the time, in the classroom, 
at general assembly, and especially in connection with all 
athletic and social activities. Moral issues are constantly 
arising, and, if these are settled right by getting the right thing 
done, there need be little discussion or moralizing. In the 
school all the higher interests of humanity may be duplicated; 
the pupils may learn the forward and upward look; and the 
virtues here enacted will be their own justification. We may 
safely put our trust in the efficiency of this form of moral train- 
ing; because every lesson takes on a dramatic interest, and, 
when the spirit is good, all the moral precepts are supported 
and enforced by the social will. 

What, has been said thus far is not intended to preclude 
incidental moral instruction; this may be profitable, especially 
when the pupils ask for help or the occasion strongly suggests 
it. When the youth has reached his later teens and is be- 
ginning to live in the higher moral region and is peering upward 
for light, there should be some one waiting for the privilege of 
rendering high personal service. "Happy the youth," saysl 
Palmer, "who during the transition time has a wise friend atf 
hand to answer a question, to speak a steadying word, to open | 
up the vista which at the moment needs to be cleared. Only ? 
one in close personal touch is serviceable here." It is invariably ' 
true, as indicated by the testimony given in after years, that 
the teacher who gave purpose, inspired confidence, and aroused 
ambitions is the one most valued, rather than the one who 
impressed with his scholarship or dazzled with his brilliant 
classroom technique ; and, most important of all, life's ideals 



MORAL EDUCATION 347 

and the highest ethical truths are never seen perfectly by youth 
except when embodied in a personality. Thus moral influence 
is not something for which a method can be proposed or a de- 
partment provided; it is more in the nature of a continuous 
benediction coming from those who live on the higher spiritual 
planes, yet in the closest personal touch with youth. 

When the wholesome moral tone or atmosphere, of which 
the reader understands the importance, is lacking, it cannot 
be created in a day or perhaps a year. The time and effort 
required to bring about anything so fundamental and involv- 
ing so many activities and people will vary with conditions; 
and it will only result from sympathetic cooperation and deal- 
ing with the pupils on a human basis. There must be some one 
with courage and force of character to take a square and firm 
stand on all moral issues that arise, to place responsibility as 
rapidly as possible on everybody, to insist on good work in the 
classroom, the social organizations, and the athletic field, to 
place the bluffer, the loaff^r, and the liar in their true light, and 
to demand with smiling firmness the utmost frankness, cour- 
tesy, and refinement at all times. When these things are pres- 
ent, the school is doing a great moral work for the community; 
and this work it can do more effectively than any other in- 
stitution, because it is a complete social unit with definite pur- 
poses; it is an epitome of the world which will soon receive 
the pupils, and its work is of such a nature that each must 
constantly have regard for the welfare and rights of others. 

This suggests the relation of rules and regulations to moral 
training. Outward conformity to the social requirements of 
the school and its many organizations can be secured by means 
of thoroughly enforced rules. But life and its requirements 
are too varied and subtile to have all its moves determined by 
rule; no systems of school-made laws can forestall all "spiritual 
disasters." Movement by rules precludes real moral expe- 
riences. Rules are ready-made judgments which must be 



348 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

accepted and naturally have no vital meaning for those who 
obey. Living by rule may be another form of bolting moral 
pabulum, instead of a true means of spiritual livelihood. In 
a sense, the imposition of rules implies a lack of faith in those 
for whom the rules are made, a serious matter when adolescents 
are involved. Few outside of a Prussian system would claim 
that it is the function of the school to create docile, passive 
creatures, comfortable as they are to deal with. Fear is not 
the endy but only the beginning of wisdom, as the Psalmist 
assures us. There must be inculcated a sense of orderly free- 
dom and independence. If regulations are needed, the pupils 
will cooperate in the making of these regulations. Social and 
moral judgment, like the organs of the body, can grow only 
by self-directed activity; self-determined, moral action weaves 
the fibers that form character. This does not mean "self- 
government"; high-school pupils always fail in this. Neither 
does it mean indulging the whims and caprices of the pupils; 
this would be fatal to sound moral growth. 

In the preceding discussion the reader has not found any- 
thing radically new either in what is suggested or in the method 
proposed. It is simply urged that the work of the school be 
planned and carried on with the utmost faith in the purposes 
and judgments of the pupils, that the whole be permeated with 
a spirit of cooperation, and that there must be a sweet reason- 
ableness running through it all; for the adolescent has slight 
respect for laws based on mere authority. There has been 
emphasized the importance of self-control and personal respon- 
sibility, learned through the operation of the pupils' own cor- 
porate life, this life to be so directed as to unify every kind of 
wholesome human activity. 

In these discussions the word " punishment " has not occurred, 
a word to which Spencer gives such a conspicuous place in his 
classic chapter on "Moral Education." A full consideration 
of the subject of penalties and punishments properly belongs 



MORAL EDUCATION 349 

to a book on school discipline. However, when the regular 
work and the other activities are really socialized, the Spencer- 
ian theory of natural consequences will obtain; for the judg- 
ment of the student body, when given adequate means of ex- 
pression, will provide both the social rewards and punish- 
ments, effective in all except extreme cases. Both the moral 
motives and the social awards are "contributed by the conse- 
quences which the act naturally produces." 

Thus far nothing has been said about the relation of the sub- 
jects of the curriculum, which occupy most of the school time, 
to moral education, except to intimate that any subject can 
be so socialized and vitalized as to make it contribute to the 
moral growth of the pupils. But there are certain subjects 
that more readily and effectively lend aid in this culminating 
function of the school, due chiefly to the human elements in 
their content, or to the eternal principles to which they give 
expression. They are the subjects that embody the best 
thoughts, the most generous emotions, and relate the worthy 
deeds of past generations. These can be made to help greatly 
in forming ideals and in solving life's problems. The studies 
are history, biography, natural science, literature, art, and 
English expression. To produce the moral influence desired, 
they must be presented imaginatively and whole-heartedly. 

To the adolescent, human beings when studied through their 
acts are most engrossing; for the adolescent is himself just 
becoming a human being in the deeper sense, and he is naturally 
interested in anything human. It is a time of hero-worship 
and enthusiasm for great deeds and great thoughts, especially 
if they are given their true emotional setting; the adolescent 
is thus made to live vicariously the lives and deeds of the great 
ones of the earth. When incarnated, moral truths and prin- 
ciples make an effective appeal. Hence the influence of liter- 
ature, biography, and history: they are replete with the doings 
of great souls; and, because they are human, they enforce 



350 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

their own lessons without a moral appendix. In other words, 
they are rich in moral content and effective for moral instruc- 
tion. History shows forth the workings of life in the nations; 
and biography, in the individual. They both "constantly 
typify certain universal ideals," as Dr. Bagley asserts; "cour- 
age, fortitude, initiative, efficiency, foresight, — in fact every 
conceivable human virtue may be given a surer footing in the 
individual mind through the study of history and biography." 
Literature, as a whole, interprets life in all its phases; and 
from the standpoint of content is based on fundamental instincts 
and provides vicarious gratification for "desires that cannot 
be realized directly." They all help to enrich and clarify the 
meaning of life. But unless the pupils are really stirred, these 
subjects will fail of their natural influence. Dr. E. O. Sisson 
throws out this caution: "Human studies may be quite de- 
humanized either by intellectual abstraction or by spiritual 
indiflerence, and may then become rather immoral by accus- 
toming youth to look with untouched heart upon ideas and 
images that ought to arouse the emotions of any true man." 

The moral advantages and dangers of oral and written expres- 
sion have been discussed in a previous chapter on debating. 
One of the most important by-products that may come from 
any kind of English expression is training in self-honesty; 
it should make the pupil aware of his own ignorance and con- 
tinually force him to realize that nothing short of clear and 
adequate knowledge of the truths and principles involved in 
his theme will insure success. The moral effect of this work 
depends largely upon the subjects chosen (whether they de- 
mand ethical thinking) and the standards of originality and 
truth-telling that are maintained. The pupil must image 
clearly, report accurately, catch the viewpoint of those for 
whom he writes, and proceed to give the truth exactly as he 
sees it. All who have had opportunities for observation out- 
side the schools realize how low are the ideals that generally 



MORAL EDUCATION 351 

prevail concerning all the qualities that are included in honest 
composition. 

The study of art or any form of beauty, as we learned in a 
previous chapter, makes a stronger appeal now than at any 
other time; and any form of art which really absorbs the in- 
terest provides a safe means of long-circuiting the impulses 
and emotions that are seeking an outlet. There are many 
forms of art work which supply natural opportunities for 
training in cooperation. The enthusiastic student of any art 
soon realizes that there are other than material values in the 
world and he comes to appreciate Keats's "First in beauty 
shall be first in might." 

The sciences furnish training in truth-getting and truth- 
telling; they make for open-mindedness ; as Neimnan has urged, 
they "deal with a realm of eternal principles which the caprices 
and feelings of mankind neither create nor alter;" and they 
draw attention to the heroic in the lives of those who have pa- 
tiently labored in obscurity for the good of their fellow-men. 
Here again the method of approach and the spirit of the work 
determine the moral value resulting. 

Thus, whatever instruments of moral training we consider, 
or whatever phase of the moral Hfe we emphasize, we always 
arrive at the idea that moral education, especially during ado- 
lescence, is a social process. He who has gained the power 
to observe correctly and comprehend social situations and who 
has the self-control and the desire to react habitually in the 
interest of the broadest social service is perfectly trained 
in morality. 



CHAPTER XX 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 

Frequently, in the discussions of the preceding chapters, 
there has been suggested various Hues of conduct that it would 
seem best for high-school pupils to pursue if their school life 
is to meet their needs in the most helpful way possible; but, 
from a practical standpoint, perhaps too little has been said 
as to how we are to get the proverbially self-willed adolescents 
to do what we believe their own interests demand. It is the 
purpose of this final chapter to attempt to render help in this 
important and delicate matter. It will be understood that mere 
outward conformity to the wishes of those in authority is not 
the thing aimed at; this kind of conformity is usually easy 
to obtain, but it is here assumed that the reader is not interested 
in any such external submission to authority. 

The controlling thought of the chapter may be summarized 
by saying that much knowledge of human nature, more es- 
pecially adolescent nature, is what is most needed in order to 
appeal successfully to high-school pupils; but this common- 
place statement is too abstract and general to be very helpful 
in any practical way. However, the reader will readily see 
that what is said of each topic discussed is but a recognition of 
some phase of human nature as we find it exhibited in boys and 
girls of high-school age. We are to attempt to deal with people 
as they are, with a view to making them what they should be, 
the only practical working principle. 

I. All men that have been able to deal successfully with their 
fellow-men have been guided by this principle. One of the 
most instructive examples of a practical application of at least 

352 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 353 

one aspect of this principle is embodied in the famous funeral 
oration delivered by the great Pericles at the close of the first 
campaign of the Peloponnesian War. This oration is a splen- 
did example of ancient oratory, remarkable and stirring in 
its eloquence and wonderful in its eSect. As we read them, 
the great orations which Demosthenes hurled against Philip 
of Macedon are stirring and wonderful in their eloquence; 
but they failed completely in what the world's greatest orator 
sought to accompHsh; they did not rouse his people to their 
duty. Not so with the funeral oration of Pericles, of which 
Thucydides has left us an admirable report, a report which 
constitutes one of the most interesting and valuable memorials 
of antiquity. It was the custom in ancient Greece, after a 
campaign or battle had been fought, to assemble the people 
and hold an imposing public ceremony, the chief feature of 
which was a funeral oration pronounced by one of their great 
orators over the remains of their dead countr3rmen who had 
given their lives that their country might live. Pericles is 
known to us as a great patron of art, but he was also a practical 
man of affairs and a wise statesman, who knew his country 
and its institutions perfectly and saw deeply into the nature 
and temperament of his discouraged people. As their orator, 
he vividly outlined for them the growth and development of 
Athenian institutions; he urged upon them anew their wonder- 
ful intellectual advantage; and he pointed out with due em- 
phasis their moral and social virtues. In other words, he held 
before them their own better selves; and thus it was that he 
sent them to their homes with new courage and resolution. 
This was a great day in ancient Athens; in a sense we may 
say it was the day of its new birth. May we not say that some- 
times it is a great day in the life of a boy when some one takes 
him and sjnnpathetically reveals to him his own better self? 
Will he, too, not go forth encouraged and highly resolving? 
And will he not the more gladly conform to the social will as 



354 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

expressed by the conditions and regulations of the hfe which 
surrounds him? 

It is unnecessary to urge tnat there is always something in 
every pupil or group of pupils worthy of praise and that any 
one who has not sufficient insight to discover it cannot but 
fail at a most vital point in his work. It is also unnecessary 
to point out in detail the many advantages that arise to both 
the teacher and the pupil because of the new relation that is 
established between them by an expression of appreciation 
on the teacher's part. The expressed appreciation must, 
of course, be true, growing out of real insight on the part of 
the teacher; the youth cannot readily be imposed upon by any 
sentimental or imaginary virtues that the teacher might be 
tempted to attribute to him; for he will not be fooled in this 
matter and the one who tries it will be sure to lose the 
pupil's respect and consequently fail in his purpose. It is a 
case that requires both insight and honesty. 

2. Because of the strong social bent of the adolescent, and 
because of the altruistic instincts that are normally develop- 
ing at this time, there are certain words and phrases that make 
a strong appeal when used (if not overused) by the right person 
on the right occasion. These are examples of what is meant: 
''gentleman," "square deal," "playing the game fair," or other 
terms of like import. Such phrases embody some of the uni- 
versally acknowledged social virtues of virile manhood and hence 
make a powerful appeal. If the use of "gentleman" is reserved 
for the one who has a sense of proportion and relations and 
hence makes his conduct appropriate to the circumstances 
and the occasion, the term will have much meaning, and it will 
have a pleasing sound in the ears of our boys, for it describes a 
form of conduct for which they very much wish to have credit. 
The period of youth, as we have seen, corresponds in the world's 
history to the age of chivalry; it is the time in life when every 
individual wants to be considered a gentleman or a lady. The 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL ' 355 

expression ''square deal" has come to have great significance 
and a rich connotation because of an appeaUng and vigorous 
personahty, who, in recent years, gave the ideals which the 
phrase implies concrete fulfilment; hence it has for many a 
kind of personal appeal. All Americans admire the one who 
plays "a fair game''; and whatever their true nature, young 
people of high-school age desire credit for good sportsmanship; 
consequently anything that implies this test of their conduct 
is likely to influence them. 

But this is only one side of our story. If one hundred high- 
school pupils are asked to make a careful statement as to the 
quality they consider most important in an ideal teacher or 
principal, a very large majority (the majority being larger 
among the boys) will say "fairness," or something to that 
effect; and this they demand so far as their position as pupils 
permit. Youth seems to have an instinctive and almost un- 
reasoned sense of justice; and his standards of justice and fair 
deahng must be respected and fortified and made part of his 
moral character. Sometimes it would seem that the high 
school is the last chance for many to develop and establish a 
true and keen sense of justice; for in the great industrial and 
economic world human relations are often discouragingly out 
of joint, and 

"Man's inhuinanity to man 
Makes countless thousands mourn." 

Amid the maladjustments, anomalies, and exploitations of 
the industrial maelstrom is not a safe place to develop a sense 
of justice. Certainly nearly all teachers intend to deal fairly 
at all times with their pupils; but, if the pupils interpret matters 
otherwise, the practical results are the same as when the in- 
tentions are wrong, being a form of social inefficiency on 
the part of the teacher that makes for failure. The teacher, 
too, must ''play the game" and make all feel that he does it 



3S6 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

in a perfectly fair manner. Even the severe teacher is approved 
if he seems just. 

3. In mentioning the words and phrases to conjure with, 
we might well have included another; with the adolescent 
"honor" is a word of much potence. When "honor is the 
subject of our story," we may well expect the youth to be as 
responsive as was the ancient Brutus. Yes, "honor" is a good 
word, but the thing for which it stands cannot be systema- 
tized, as many well-meaning school ofi&cials have tried to do; 
it is something too individual, too personal. When we speak 
of "honor systems," either we are using the word "system^ 
carelessly, or we are deceived as to the thing itself; like "self- 
government," it is a misnomer. 

Yet, inaccurate as the expression may be, pupils are often 
fond of using it as opposed t6 government by rules and regu- 
lations. They are proud to think that they are controlled 
by motives of honor, and it is a worthy pride. There is no 
doubt but that honor on the part of the pupils may be sub- 
stituted for many of the old-time school regulations. The 
following concrete example, reported in "The Outlook" for 
March 29, 1913, will illustrate and doubtless be of interest. 

In a high school of about five hundred pupils, in one of the 
important suburbs of Chicago, there had been, as in many 
schools and colleges, considerable trouble in the boys' g3nii- 
nasium locker-room; the usual stealing, called "swiping," 
had, in spite of locks, become a continual annoyance; athletic 
and gymnasium goods were never safe. 

At the opening of the school year in September, the principal 
called a meeting of the boys and the men of the faculty for the 
purpose of considering the situation. He began by giving the 
boys the results of his observation in some of the boys' schools of 
England, where the term gentleman carries with it the idea of 
honesty and good sportsmanship, and where athletic property 
needs no protection except a mark of ownership. He^ assured 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 357 

the boys of his beHef that most American boys are gentlemen, 
and he assured them of his faith in them and their abihty to 
deal with the troublesome problem. The meeting was so 
managed as to encourage perfect freedom of discussion; and 
there was developed much enthusiasm in favor of substituting 
honor in place of locks. A committee of boys was appointed 
to formulate a plan; a simple plan, including a few rules and a 
permanent committee, was reported at the next meeting; and 
the plan proposed, which came to be known among the boys as 
"the honor system," was adopted by a vote of fifteen to one. 
According to the plan adopted, all locks were removed from the 
lockers, and a committee of boys had full charge of matters 
pertaining to the locker-room and the enforcement of rules 
concerning athletic and gymnasium equipment. 

The scheme worked almost perfectly; as far as was known, 
all "swiping" stopped. The committee, which frequently 
sought advice from the principal and the coaches, handled mat- 
ters with promptness, tact, and decision when there was any 
technical violation of the rules. The question of withholding 
information concerning what happened in the locker-room 
never seemed to occur to the boys; loyalty to the cause appeared 
to take the place of loyalty to "the bunch." The committee 
in charge was composed of the president of the boys' athletic 
association and two members from eax:h of the three upper 
classes; and, although the committee dealt with considerable 
severity in one or two cases of violated regulations and in gen- 
eral was very exacting in the performance of duty, the boys on 
the committee retained the confidence and good-will of the 
other boys. 

The success of this experiment seems to indicate (and this 
is the reason it is reported here) that the important thing in 
appealing to boys of high-school age is to trust them, to have 
faith in their abihty and their good intentions, and to show 
it by giving them as much responsibility as possible. It is 



358 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

only by so doing that we can really place matters on an honor 
basis and rightfully use the word, a word which naturally makes 
a strong appeal because of the manly and noble virtues which 
it implies. 

4. There is another point at which the idea of honor touches 
the life of adolescents, especially boys, and which at times 
assumes much practical importance; and that is, in its relation 
to a sort of code of honor which boys invariably maintain. A 
familiar and important phase of the code makes it a gross 
breach of disloyalty to report a misdemeanor of a fellow-pupil. 
This matter has considerable theoretical interest as well as 
practical importance. This was shown by the large number of 
thoughtful people who participated in the discussions on "Who 
Broke the Window?" which continued for several issues in "The 
Outlook" during the year 191 3; and the great variety of opin- 
ions there expressed indicates that we are still far from complete 
agreement on a matter which must be fundamental in our deal- 
ings with boys from fourteen (age of the boys Good and Bad 
in "The Outlook" discussions) to eighteen. 

Any one who has ever been a real boy or who has had sym- 
pathetic contact with boy life can have no doubt as to the moral 
position that all normal boys take in this matter of giving in- 
criminating information involving any of their group. This 
unanimity of sentiment, as in other cases, surely has significance. 
Because the adolescent is controlled by pretty definite ideals of 
rectitude and loyalty in refusing to "squeal," and because of 
the utter contempt that is felt for the one who is "sneaking 
and low-down" enough to tell, the idea of asking a boy to in- 
form on members of his group is something from which one 
naturally and instinctively recoils. Yet numerous reasons 
are forthcoming why the desired information should be de- 
manded by those in authority. "Boys are expected to grow 
up into good, public-spirited citizens; and they are now en- 
joying the citizenship of their school with its many privileges. 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 359 

They owe a duty to their school and to those in authority; 
they should aid in maintaining order and protecting property. 
Later, if asked in court for testimony against their friends, 
they must Hell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth,' and to do this is a mark of good citizenship. Thus 
it is a part of the training for good citizenship that pupils be 
made to understand that it is their duty to expose the offenders 
that they may be brought to justice. By so doing, are they 
not proving their loyalty to their school; and, in the last an- 
alysis, are they not acting kindly toward the guilty by making 
it possible that they may learn that the way of the transgressor 
is not safe?" 

All this sounds very logical to the adult mind; and we may 
be sure that this line of reasoning had its origin in the mind of 
some adult, one who, perhaps, has failed to get the viewpoint 
of the real boy-world, or who has found it very inconvenient 
and annoying to deal with this phase of the adolescent's idea 
of loyalty. Although usually unconscious of it, we adults have 
a way of making the comfort and convenience of the adult- 
world the criterion by which we measure the conduct of the 
younger generation; and naturally youth applies the same kind 
of standards and reasoning to us. When we ignore or out- 
rage some of their cherished ideals and standards, it is well 
for our peace of mind that we do not know what they think of 
us, and that we do not hear the appropriate names they apply 
to us. 

Whatever practical conclusions we may reach, it is wholesome 
to look at the matter under consideration from the adolescent 
point of view. When asked to incriminate any of his group, 
the youth feels that he is asked to renounce his allegiance to 
his group who are his friends (few adults have sufl&ciently good 
memories to realize the meaning of this) ; and he is renouncing 
this allegiance at the command of a teacher, who is of necessity 
a rank outsider, ^One boy of sixteen thinks, "it is better to 



360 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

have the teacher mad at you than all the boys," "for they fi- 
nally become your fellow-citizens ; ' ' this boy is serious and judges 
acts by their distant effects. We must understand that shield- 
ing a fellow-pupil is not, in the mind of a normal boy, a ques- 
tion of law and order at all; hence our logical inferences con- 
cerning law courts do not appeal. For the adolescent, it is a 
serious moral question, which he feels that he must decide on a 
higher human plane. As one boy about to graduate from high 
school expresses it, "there is in every boy's heart a higher law, 
a law of loyalty, faithfulness which grown-ups seem to lack"; 
this is "one virtue, one quality that stands out above all others 
in the boy's mind." In general good citizenship demands that 
the individual live up to the highest ideals of conduct known 
in the group or community of which he is a member; the high- 
school pupil who is steadfast in his loyalty to his group is living 
the best type of citizenship of which he knows, for he is con- 
trolled by the highest ideals of his group. Are there not 
many convincing reasons for the belief that, when he becomes 
a member of an adult community outside of the school, he 
will live up to the highest standards he finds there? At any 
rate, this is the adolescent viewpoint, and whose case are we 
considering anyway? Is it that of the adult, or is it that of 
the ordinary high-school pupil? As stated at the beginning 
of the chapter, it is fundamental to success to deal with people 
as they are, rather than as we think they ought to be. 

This youthful way of looking at the matter is also shared 
by many who have had much experience with the workings of 
the adolescent mind. To these it is satisf3dng to find that the 
late Dr. Royce of Harvard University, in his book on "The 
Philosophy of Loyalty," reaches the same conclusion on purely 
philosophical grounds and thus expresses himself. "The 
parent or teacher who trifles with the code of honor of chil- 
dren by encouraging the talebearer, or by even requiring that 
a child should become an informer, is simply encouraging 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 361 

disloyalty. He outrages the embryonic conscience of his 
young charge." 

In all of the foregoing discussion, it is assumed that the 
offense is some form of mischief or trick, damage resulting from 
carelessness, infraction of some school regulation, or the like. 
But, if the misdemeanor is something serious that really affects 
the welfare of the group morally or the usefulness or ideals of 
the institution, we have an entirely different situation. In 
this case we must secure the cooperation of all the right-minded 
members of the group; and, if the matter is vital, they will 
stand ready to make common cause against any who violate 
their group integrity, as was done so vigorously in the case of 
stealing athletic goods cited above. We can trust the boys' 
common-sense and moral judgment to discriminate between 
a school prank and something that jeopardizes moral charac- 
ter or threatens to defeat the purposes of the school. 

But it will be urged that frequently things happen around 
a high school concerning which, although they are not morally 
vicious, it is well for those responsible to know the whole 
truth; certainly all with experience know this only too well. 
However, there is another way and a better one of securing 
the desired information than by means of taletelling. It is 
by frankly and fully respecting the boys' code as you find it, 
then raising the whole matter to a higher level by insisting, 
if any harm has been done, that the guilty one become his own 
informant. The culprit who does this at once finds himself 
regarded in a new light by his group; he is admired for his 
frankness and courage; his friends have assurance that he is 
not "yellow." When this is brought about a few times and 
becomes an established practice in the school, we have intro- 
duced a new ideal in the school's code of honor, and one in which 
the whole school comes to take just pride. To some who have 
not made use of this plan it may seem impracticable, but such 
is certainly not true; it is on the ground of its extreme practi- 



362 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

cability, as well as of its importance in the formation of char- 
acter and its good influence on the spirit of the school as a 
whole, that this method is urged. It is true that, until the 
standard of honor necessary to bring about the results described 
is firmly established, much tact and determination on the part 
of some one who has the respect and good will of the pupils 
are needed; and it is an ideal of conduct that requires consid- 
erable time, sometimes more than one year, to become opera- 
tive in a large school. 

When the desired information is not forthcoming, one can en- 
list the help of the innocent members of the group involved. 
This help they are ready to give if they can do so without viola- 
ting their ideals of honor; generally they are pleased to line up 
on the side of the right. The form of reasoning is something like 
this: no one wishes you who are innocent to expose your friends 
in such a matter as the one under consideration; but it is 
neither fair nor pleasant that your innocence should not be 
made clear, and it is your privilege to insist that those who 
are guilty give the information needed to clear up the whole 
affair; by so doing you exonerate yourselves, aid in establish- 
ing a splendid ideal for the school, and, best of all, you are help- 
ing your erring schoolmates to do a manly act that will in the 
end bring real satisfaction. The author has never known this 
mode of appeal to fail. Public sentiment is always powerful 
and the pupils can easily bring sufficient pressure to bear. 
It is not necessary to discuss the great advantage that 
comes in establishing and fostering right relations between 
the pupils and those directly responsible for the management 
of the school. 

5. The next principle of appeal to be considered here has, 
we hope, been embodied in many of the preceding chapters; 
especially is this unifying principle the warrant for many of 
the things urged in the chapter on the social activities of the 
high school; in fact, it is fundamental in all educational think- 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 363 

ing that is really modern; and it is an extremely practical work- 
ing-doctrine. Some one has expressed the idea by saying, 
that the youth must be treated as a whole if the treatment 
is to be wholesome; that is, we must appeal to his whole nature. 
For many reasons we are inclined to think, or at least act, as 
though education were largely an affair of the intellect. This 
conception of the matter is readily explained. In our high 
schools we have been busy much of the time with things which 
appeal to the intellect; and we are reassured in this course of 
procedure because our efforts along this line are capable of 
more or less supposedly definite measurements, and we naturally 
find comfort and satisfaction in any form of tally sheet. 

Again, it would appear that the application of this principle 
of a whole-souled appeal is not fostered by the great emphasis 
that has been placed in recent years upon the study of psychol- 
ogy, especially in institutions whose fimction it is to train teach- 
ers. Any scientific study naturally tends toward developing and 
fixing an analytical attitude. Psychology, being a science, right- 
fully occupies itself with descriptive analyses of the human 
soul; and is it not to be expected that this analyzing habit on 
the part of the trained teacher should carry over into his treat- 
ment of his pupils? But the practical man of human affairs 
and the born teacher know intuitively that the human values 
are destroyed when we force on them the catagories of psy- 
chology. The men who have been most successful in influenc- 
ing and controlling their fellow-men have always dealt with 
them as units by appealing to their whole natures; they recog- 
nize in each a real, willing personality, whose inner life consti- 
tutes a vital unity. The late Professor Miinsterberg has re- 
minded us that oxygen and hydrogen will not satisfy a thirsty 
man, and that life speaks the language of the thirsty. 

Instead of being a matter of the intellect, education in the 
final outcome is an affair of attitudes and conduct; and we 
have long known that these are controlled much more by the 



364 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

instincts and feelings than by the intellect. We also know 
that the instincts and feeUngs are reached most surely through 
the imagination. As has already appeared in the early chap- 
ters, at no time is this avenue of approach through the imagina- 
tion so wide open as during the high-school age. The adolescent 
mind naturally functions much of the time through the imagi- 
nation, the social life, and the emotions, and expresses itself 
in the form of intellect only a small percentage of the time. 
Thus the high-school teacher, in order to make the strongest 
and most successful appeal, must address himself to the whole 
nature of his pupils; for him his pupils are much more than 
intellectual mechanisms ready to be put in motion, and they 
are much more than psychological specimens. 

6. If the high school is to make the proper appeal to its pu- 
pils, the spirit and principles of democracy must prevail. This 
is another commonplace; no one now questions the wisdom of 
this doctrine. But only those who have had experience are 
aware of the difficulties involved in maintaining these prin- 
ciples; let the trials and tribulations of those who have had to 
deal with fraternities and sororities bear testimony. The 
causes that interfere with thoroughgoing democracy in the 
community are naturally active in the school. The consequent 
difficulties are not easily overcome, because in general they 
cannot be met in the open and regulated like other troubles. 
Democracy is a spirit that must be developed; rules and regu- 
lations will not produce it. In a sense democracy is like faith; 
often it is a matter of growth. When the spirit of democracy 
is abroad, each sincerely believes in the worth of all the others 
and that they are to have a full opportunity to do their best. 
There can be no true justice without it. Unless the spirit of 
democracy is developed and its principles are maintained, the 
school is wanting in that vital social unity that is necessary to 
its highest efficiency. As R. S. Bourne asserts, democracy 
"stands people up on their own feet, makes them take up 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 365 

their beds and walk." It expects every one to carry more 
than his own load with neither favor nor handicap. 

The public high school is one of the best places in the world 
to inculcate democracy. If not perverted, the adolescent 
naturally has a passion for justice and is impatient with any- 
thing that suggests artificial distinctions or unearned honors; 
he wishes to feel himself a part of a cooperating group of equals. 
This fits in with his ideals of fair play and his natural robust- 
ness. At heart he is willing to be stripped of all distinctions 
except those which come from character, natural ability, and 
his own efforts. This is the youth as nature would have him; 
and the school conditions are favorable for his nurture. In 
the public school the pupils are actuated by a common purpose, 
and that a worthy one; in accomplishing this purpose, they 
expect neither advantages nor favors. They learn and measure 
one another by the way they do their work and the spirit they 
show in the games and by their bearing toward each other. 
All this surely is a humanizing influence. The high school can 
well be our ideal democracy; if it is not, rt will fail to appeal 
to the best that is in its pupils, and they will not get the truly 
American view of life. 

7. The next doctrine to be presented as necessary, if the 
school is to make the strongest possible appeal to its pupils, 
is one which in its application maybe the source of much trouble, 
hence lead to considerable discouragement on the part of any 
one who attempts to apply the principle in its extreme form; 
consequently one hesitates to urge it in a book intended pri- 
marily for the inexperienced. Briefly stated it is this: In every 
high school the pupils should be given the greatest possible 
amount of reasonable freedom. For most high-school pupils, 
the period of habitual morality is past. As Dr. G. S. Hall 
suggests, they wish to act on personal experience and ''keep 
a private conscience." The appeals of previous years are no 
longer effective; and Dewey is "apprehensive of an education 



366 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

that occupies the adolescent with doing what some one tells 
him to do," as this does not make for independence, stability, 
self-reliance, or initiative. To insist on arbitrary rules and 
regulations at this time arouses antagonism. Even in far-off 
Ben Jonson's day, it was held that 

." Force works in servile natures, not the free." 

As to how much freedom is reasonable, hence safe and 
helpful, depends upon conditions, which include especially 
the moral and social status of the community whence the 
pupils come and the way the pupils have been previously 
dealt with; that is, those things which aid in determining the 
spirit, traditions, and ideals of the school. In the application 
of this principle of the greatest possible freedom, it is the part 
of wisdom to *'make haste slowly." For mankind as a whole, 
freedom is "an acquired character;" and, as Paulsen affirms, 
it "must be acquired anew by each individual." Determin- 
ing the degree of freedom that is wholesome for high-school 
pupils is a delicate procedure. It must never be confused with 
license, as it was in Russia. As Goethe insists, "only within 
the circle of law can there be true freedom;" that is, there is 
no freedom for all individuals unless each individual of the 
group keeps within due bounds, which have been pretty 
definitely determined. These are not arbitrarily determined 
bounds; but they have been slowly established by the race. 
It is only when one has learned to move in harmony with 
the rhythmic throb of the moral conscience of mankind that 
he is free. This is what the poet means when he says: 

" He is the freeman whom the truth makes free 
And none is free beside." 

When we acknowledge higher ideals and standards, we establish 
our freedom, for thus we prove that the higher ideals are in 
us. So it comes about that the limitations referred to must, 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 367 

in the last analysis, be self-imposed. Stated subjectively, 
they are in general the limitations dictated by common-sense, 
common loyalty, and respect for the rights of others. 

Because of the general and abstract form of statement, the 
effectiveness of this principle depends upon the skill with which 
it is applied, hence the danger involved in its use. However, 
the school that does not work persistently and continuously 
toward freedom falls short of doing the best that can be done 
to develop strong men and women. It is not a mere paradox 
to say that we must give people a chance to be foolish in or- 
der to teach them to be wise; there is no other way to real 
wisdom. It is a twofold process : youth must mature the power 
to judge fitting action, and at the same time develop the strength 
of will to carry it out. The wisdom which knows and the virtue 
which does both come only through experience; and there can 
be no experience where all is determined and imposed from with- 
out, however wise the ready-made formulas and however skil- 
fully they are administered. To quote Hall again, "in nature's 
economy," the youth must "strive, fight, and storm his way 
up if he would break into the kingdom of man." The funda- 
mental difference between the child and the adult is the differ- 
ence between superimposed and self-imposed limitation of 
freedom; and it is one of the duties of the high school to aid 
in leading the impulsive, inexperienced child into the estate 
of reasoning, self-directing manhood and womanhood. 

8. The next principle or suggestion is in the nature of a 
comment on all that has gone before; or perhaps it may be 
understood to embody the teaching and spirit of the whole 
book. Establishing habits of conduct and forming character 
are matters of guiding, controlling, and inspiring rather than 
initiating and compelling. The numberless instincts and fac- 
ulties are there awaiting the master-hand that will turn their 
natural and ceaseless activity into safe and fruitful channels. 
It is an encouraging and helpful truth to contemplate relative 



^6S HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

to character and conduct, that virtue, as well as vice, is con- 
tagious; so that, when the tide is setting in the right direction, 
we can count on much wholesome and effective aid; for the 
guiding and sustaining influence of the stronger individuals 
of any group is always awaiting the one with an imaginative 
understanding of youth's ideals and aspirations who will em- 
ploy it. 

9. Experience and observation lead the author to believe 
that by far the strongest, safest, and most effective motive to 
which we may appeal is that of loyalty; if so, it is the most 
helpful both to the individual and to the school. The term 
loyalty is here used in the ordinary sense, which Dr. Royce 
briefly and clearly defines as, " a willing, practical, and thorough- 
going devotion to a cause." The "cause" may be anything 
to which willing service may be rendered; but it must always 
be something more than a mere sentiment or personal whim. 
Many well-meaning people have been wont to recommend al- 
truism and self-forgetfulness as the safest and most exalted 
motive that we can make use of in appealing to our fellow-men; 
these are truly high and worthy, and no one can gainsay them; 
they have prompted the bravest, the most beautiful, and the 
most romantic deeds and lives that the world has thus far seen; 
in their higher reaches they may be thought of as divine. But 
the ordinary adolescent needs something more robust, and 
this Dr. Royce finds in the concept of loyalty, with its many 
implications. The reader familiar with his philosophy of 
loyalty will trace its influence in the following paragraphs. 

Loyalty is a strong motive at this time of life, because it is 
social in its outlook; and this is the period when the social 
instincts are the most powerful. Loyalty always (except in 
the figurative sense of self-loyalty) concerns others and is 
powerfully unifying in its effects, binding the many in one ser- 
vice. Again, it is a strong motive, in that loyal conduct is 
never conceived as determined by mere fate or by the will of 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 369 

others; it always presupposes freedom of choice and voluntary 
action; because of the independent nature of youth, this makes 
an effective appeal. Moreover, it is fascinating for young people 
to be identified with and work for a cause; for it gives a sense 
of self-importance and self-respect; the loyal individual feels 
that he counts at least one, while he is establishing harmony 
between himself and his social world. Again, the service of 
loyalty is a pleasure, and that an unselfish pleasure, since the 
cause is always something outside of self. Finally, loyalty is a 
strong motive, because it is contagious, especially among ado- 
lescents. 

In shaping conduct and character, loyalty is the safest mo- 
tive to which we can appeal: its exercise always means self- 
control and leads to self-restraint; it means devotion to a mean- 
ingful service, joyfully rendered; and it meansinterest in some- 
thing or somebody, and deep and genuine interest in something 
outside of self is a safe and wholesome attitud-e of mind to es- 
tablish. Loyalty is safe because it furnishes a center around 
which individual action moves and toward which purposeful 
actions tend; it blends youthful egotism with whole-hearted 
devotion; hence it naturally gives rise to a unity of purpose, 
and this makes for stability and fixity of character. More- 
over, genuine loyalty is a force leading toward social con- 
formity, which is a safe and constant influence tending 
toward social efficiency, a decidedly practical and permanent 
result. 

Loyalty is especially effective as a motive at this time of 
life, because, as Dr. Royce expresses it, it means doing the "will 
of some fascinating social power; this power is the cause." 
The cause becomes the youth's opportunity, gives scope for 
the exercise of his faculties, and makes him feel that he has a 
mission in life which is his to fulfil. The cause in which he 
is interested makes a most kindly and persuasive appeal to 
his self-will, the logical result being a union of his natural in- 



370 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

terest and his free choice. It tends to arouse in every youth a 
fine spirit of high resolve. 

"When Duty whispers low, Thou must, 
The youth repHes, I can." 

It is not easy to exhaust all the ways in which loyalty as a 
motive is directly helpful to the individual. Loyal conduct 
has two marked characteristics, namely, fidelity and decisive- 
ness. There can be no loyalty without faithfulness to a cause, 
and there can be no conduct, so far as the cause is concerned, 
that is worthy of the motive, unless it is definitely willed and 
decisive; and this kind of conduct continually practiced tends, 
like other conduct, to become natural and part of character. 

Now with regard to loyalty and the school as a whole. All 
who have made use of this motive know that, when the spirit 
of loyalty is present in a high school, it is an infl,uence most 
helpful to those responsible for the discipline and management. 
It may become a force capable of linking into one the wills 
of the variously minded individuals; hence follows uniformity 
of sentiment and action on the part of the student-body, as 
judged by results — an effect once sought by means of rules, 
regulations, and absolute authority. 

Again, a genuine spirit of loyalty makes for fair play in all 
sports and a chivalrous respect for the adversary; for, when 
pushed to its logical conclusions, loyalty includes tolerance 
toward one's opponents and sincere respect for their point 
of view. 

This much concerning loyalty as a strong, safe, and effective 
motive of appeal; now with respect to its application. We 
must constantly bear in mind that an enlightened loyalty 
means a rational and worthy cause; and it is here that the call 
comes for much wisdom and tact on the part of some one, 
wisdom to choose and tact in suggesting the causes to which 
the pupils are to devote themselves. Here is much scope for 



PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPEAL 371 

the psychology of suggestion; for the final choice of a cause 
is to rest with the individual, otherwise it will not be his cause, 
hence will want its fascination and potency. Further, the cause 
must be such as gives an opportunity to be one in spirit; herein 
is its charm and effectiveness, making possible the most en- 
joyable cooperation. In other words, the cause must in a sub- 
tile way combine self-surrender and self-expression, the Christ- 
like and the Emerson-like attitudes; and it would seem that 
loyalty is the only motive of action that does this. Moreover, 
the cause must be one that the entire school can espouse, other- 
wise it would not stand the test of democracy; it must call 
for a maximum of significant and rational enterprise, such as 
can be loyally carried out by all. 

Those who have had experience with adolescents will under- 
stand the advantage of choosing a fitting symbol which will 
always stand for the cause in the minds of the pupils. It 
may be symbolized by something that appears very trivial in 
the eyes of an adult or any one on the outside; it may be merely 
the school colors, a pennant, a school yell, or what not, so long 
as it stands for and is always associated with a worthy cause. 
Successful political and social leaders have always recognized 
the importance of this principle; a party or a movement must 
have a name and a s)rmbol, and the symbol may be nothing 
more than the cheapest kind of a button. 

Perhaps the most significant thing that can be said with 
respect to loyalty as a motive and its effective application is, 
that it is developed and kept active only by the influence of 
personal leaders. The teacher who is not a leader cannot 
make much use of it but must appeal to lower and less effective 
motives; talking about "loyalty" will not engender or foster 
loyalty. 

In this chapter an attempt has been made to suggest some 
of the principles which underlie successful appeals to high- 
school pupils and some of the ways of applying these principles. 



372 HIGH-SCHOOL PROBLEMS 

The aim has been to present only principles and methods in 
keeping with the nature of adolescents and based on actual 
experience. If anything helpful has been said, the chapter 
is important; for everybody knows many things that high- 
school pupils ought to do, but not all are able to get them to 
do these things. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

For Chapter IT 

Fiske, Boy Life and Self-Government 

Hall, Youth, chap, i 

Hall, Adolescence, preface 

King, Psychology of Child Development 

Slaughter, The Adolescent 

Stevenson, Lantern-Bearers 

For Chapters III- VII 

Boas, Growth, Cyclopedia of Education 

Bourne, Youth and Life 

Burnham, The Study of Adolescence, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. i, pp. 

174-195 
Douglas, Fifteenth Year Book, National Society for the Study of 

Education 
Fiske, Boy Life and Self -Government 
Giles, School Review, vol. xxxv, pp. 433-442 
Hall, Youth and Adolescence 

Hall and Turner, Adolescence, Cyclopedia of Education 
Henderson, What is it to be Educated ? 
Inglis, Pri?iciples of Secondary Education, chaps, i-iii 
King, The High-School Age 
King, Educational Review, vol. Ivi, pp. 19-27 
Lancaster, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. v, pp. 61-128 
Outlook, 1913, discussions on Who Broke the Window ? 
Slattery, The Girl in Her Teens 
Slaughter, The Adolescent 
Swift, Mind in the Making 
Whipple, Psychology and Hygiene of Adolescence, Monroe's Principles 

of Secondary Education 

For Chapter VIII 

Bagley, School and Home Education, vol. xxiv, p. 3 
Bagley and Judd, School Review, vol. xxvi, pp. S'^z-^'^S 
Briggs, Report of Commissioner of Education, June 30, 1914 

37/? 



374 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Briggs, The Junior High School 

Davis, School Review, vol. xxvi, pp. 324-336 

Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. ii, No. 7 

Fifteenth Year Book, National Society for the Study of Education, 

part iii 
Howard, The Junior High School, Middlebury College Bulletin, vol. xi. 

No. I 
Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education 
Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, v 
Johnston, Journal of Education, vol. Ixxxiv, p. 91 
Jones, School Review, vol. xxvi, pp. 1 10-123 
Judd, The Evolution of a Democratic School System 
Judd, School Review, vol. xxiii, pp. 25-38; vol. xxiv, pp. 249-260 
McCartney, School Review, vol. xxv, pp. 652-658 
Very complete bibliography on the Junior High School, Bureau of 

Education, May 1919 

For Chapter IX 

Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education, chap, iv 
King The High-School Age, chap, x 

For Chapter X 

Bagley, Fundamental Distinctions between Vocational and Liberal 
Education, School and Home Education, vol. xxxiii, pp. 239-245 

Betts, Standards of Value in a Changing Curriculum, Illinois State 
Teachers' Association, 1916, pp. 50-58 

Committee of Ten, Report of 

Hollister, High School and Class Management, chap, xv 

Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education, chaps, xi and xx 

Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, viii 

Johnston, School Review, vol. xxii, pp. 577-590 

Rynearson, School Review, vol. xxiv, pp. 692-700 

Snedden, Monroe's Principles of Secondary Education^ chap, xxi and 
pp. 214-229 

Spencer, Education, chap, i 

Young, Educational Review, vol. liii pp. 122-145 

For Chapter XI 

Harwood, School Review, vol. xxvi, pp. 273-281 
Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education, chap, ix 
Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, xiv 
Monroe, Principles of Secondary Education, chap, xx 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 375 

For Chapter XIII 

Baker, Principles of Argumentation 
Foster, Argumentation and Debating 
Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, xvii 
Lyon, Elements of Debating 
Lyon and Baker, The Principles of Debating 
Roger, The High-School Debate Book 
University of Wisconsin Bulletin 
Whately, Elements of Rhetoric 

For Chapter XIV 

Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, xix 

For Chapter XV 

Johnston, The Modern High School, chaps, xvii and xxvii 
Monroe, Principles of Secondary Education, chap, xix 

For Chapter XVIII 

Biglow, Sex Education 

Ellis, A High-School Course in Physiology in which the Facts of Sex are 

Taught, Treasury Department, Bulletin No. 50 
Exner, Problems and Principles of Sex Education 
Foster, Social Emergency: Studies in Sex-Hygiene and Morals 
Galloway, Biology of Sex 
Gerrish, Sex Hygiene . 
Hall, Sexual Knowledge 
Hall, Reproduction and Sexual Hygiene 
Monroe, Principles of Secondary Education, pp. 266-270 
VanBuskirk, The Place of Sex Education in Biology and General Science 
" Zenner, Education in Sexual Physiology and Hygiene 

For Chapter XIX 

Adler, Moral Instruction of Children 

Bagley, Educational Values, part i 

Bagley, The Educative Process, chaps, iii and vii 

California prize essays. Moral Training in the Schools 

Dewey, Moral Principles in Education 

Englemen, Moral Education in School and Home 

Gould, Moral Instruction 

Holmes, Principles of Character Making 

Johnston, The Modern High School, chap, xxix 



376 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Monroe, Principles of Secondary Education, chap, viii 
Neumann, Moral Values in Secondary Education 
Palmer, Ethical and Moral Instruction 
Sadler, Editor of Moral Instruction and Training in School 
Schroeder, The Psychology of Conduct 
Sharp, A Course in Moral Instruction for the High School 
Sisson, Essentials of Character 

Sneath and Hodge, Moral Training in the School and Home 
Spencer, Education, chap, iii 
Spiller, Moral Education in Eighteen Countries 

Spiller, Papers on Moral Education, first International Moral Education 
Congress 

For Chapter XX 

Royce, Philosophy of Loyalty 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Addams, Jane, 62, 220 

Aristotle, 51 

Arnold, Matthew, 191 

Babcock, 77 

Bagley, W. C, 137, 150, 155, 189, 

203, 240, 307, 341, 342, 350 
Barber, F. D., 144 
Barnes, Earl, 120, 121, 124 
Bell, Sanford, 76 
Bergson, 336 

Betts, George H., 185, 200 
Bible, 32, 100, 123, 124 
Boas, F., 42, 44 
Bourne, Randolph S., 31, 75, 80, 

118, 119, 288, 364 
Briggs, T. H., 132, 134, 140 
Bryant, 72 
Bunyan, 339 
Bums, 94, 355 
Butler, N. M., 131 

Cajal, 50 

Cubberley, E. P., 157 
Coffman, L. D., 169 
Compton, C. W., 40 
Corson, Hiram, 229 

Davenport, F. M., 164, 165 

Davis, C. O., 159 

Dewey, John, 81, 123, 131, 135, 182, 

250, 337, 365 
Donaldson, 50 
Douglas, A. A., 149 
Drahms, 102 



Eliot, Charles W., 131, 209 
Emerson, 117, 125, 231, 239, 370 
Exner, M. J., 323, 324, 330, 333 

Findlay, J. J., 4 
Fiske, John, 33 
Fiske, G. W., 17, 277 
Flechsig, 50 
Foster, W. T., 262 
Francis, 132 
Freud, S., 216 
Friedrich, J., 120, 121 

Goethe, 366 
Graber, J. P., 221 
Griffing, 72 
GuHck, 279, 295 
Guyer, D. M., loi 

Hall, G. Stanley, 27, S3, 44, 47, 56, 
58, 60, 62, 68, 74, 79, 93, 95, 105, 
107, 122, 226, 249, 257, 263, 279, 
280,282, 288, 292, 294,345,365,367 

Hall, W. S., 330, 331 

Hanus, P. H., 131 

Hartwell, Dr., 52 

Heckel, 16 

Hohnes, Oliver WendeU, 119 

HoUister, H. A., 158 

Holyocke, J. G., 255 

Home, H. H., 292 

James, William, 22, 51, 91, 338 
Johnston, C. H., 128, 138, 142, 160, 
178, 190, 198 



377 



378 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Jones, A. J., 156, 159 
Jonson, Ben, 366 
Judd, C. H., 6, 137, 139, 15s 
Junius, 252 

Kaes, 50 

Kaiser, 50 

Kant, 120 

Keats, 351 

Kennard, Victor, 292 

Key, Axel, 52 

King, Irving, 34, 36, 94, 170, 171 

Klein, 120 

Kline, L. W., 103, 345 

Kiilpe, 74 

Lancaster, E. G., 66, 70 
Landois, 47 
Lee, Joseph, 7 
Leete, Dean, 203 
Lewes, G. H., 123 
Longfellow, 83, 100 
Lowell, 81 
Lyttle, E. W., 132 

MacKensie, Morell, 55 
Marro, 40 
Meiklejohn, A., 197 
Montaigne, 37 
Miinsterberg, Hugo, 363 

Naismith, Dr. James, 296 
Neumann, 121, 351 

Palmer, G. H., 13, 237, 243, 283, 

337, 340, 346 
Paul, St., 342 
Paulsen, Friedrich, 366 
Pericles, 353 



Perry, C. A., 218 
Plato, 82, 280 

Rii<3, Jacob, 11 1 

Robbins, E. C., 254 

Rousseau, 16, 30 

Royce, Josiah, 5, 97, 360, 368, 369 

Ruskin, 112 

Sargent, D. A., 45 

Schiller, 228 

Scott, C. A., 214 

Sears, C. H., 227 

Shakespeare, 36, 117, 344 

Sheldon, H. D,, 225 

Sisson, E. O., 350 

Slaughter, J. W., 57, 75, 96, 106, 122 

Snedden, David, 36, 131, 140, 213 

Socrates, 85 

Spencer, Herbert, 180, 248, 338 

Stetson, 134 

Stevenson, R. L., 10 

Swift, E. J., 163, 303 

Tagore, 35 
Taylor, E. H., 148 
Tennyson, 82, 119 
Thorndike, E. L., 232 
Thucydides, 353 
Thurber, C. H., 120 
Tomlinson, 134 
Tryon, 149 

Van Denburg, J. K., 168, 169, 170, 

171, 172 
Vulpins, 50 

Wood, Arthur, in 
Wordsworth, 19, 66, 117, 124 



INDEX 



Administration of junior high 

school, 159-164 
Adolescence and athletics, 284 

exaggerated generally, 28-29 

in general, 22-39 

and esprit de corps, 207-208 

and health, 51-52 

and morality, 335-33^ 

and the senses, 66-75 

series of crises, 31-32 

signs of, 43-44 

worthy study, 39 
Adolescent altruism, 94-95 

anger and fighting, 106-107 * 

aspirations, 117 

cardinal problem, 96-97 

conformity, 352 

cruelty, 107-108 

derangements, 52-53 

development, early, 33 

development, stages, 34-38 

doubting, 83 

dreams and reveries, 83-84 

emotion, 84-85 

enthusiasm, 84-85 

gregariousness, 90-91 

ideals, 117 

iucorrigibUity, 104-105 

larks and adventures, 102-103 

moral being, 98 

organizing tendencies, 214 

psychology as criteria, 4 

psychology incomplete, 2-3 

robbery, 109 

social instincts, 89-96 



Adolescent altruism, social nature, 
88-97 

steaUng, no 

sympathy, 91-92 

temptations, 302-303 

truancy, 103-104 

visions, 117 
Adult leadership, 35-36 
Adviser for debating, 256-257 
Adviser of organizations, 223-224 
Advisory system, 173-174 
Agricultural curriculum, 205 
Allied groups of studies, 198 
Altruism, 94-95 
American high-school group, 168- 

176 
Anger and fighting, 106-107 
Animal kingdom and sex traits, 60- 

61 
Anti-social acts, 102 
Appreciation of good, 352-354 
Approbation, love of, 92-94 
Art and adolescence, 25 
Art in junior high school, 150 
Aspirations of adolescents, 117 
Assembly, 307-316 
Assembly programs, 308-311 
Assembly, a social affair, 311-313 
Athletics, 277-301 

coaching, 289-291 

evils, 285-288 

faculty attitude, 277-278 

management, 298 

mental qualities, 282 

moral quaUties, 282-284 



379 



38o 



INDEX 



Athletics, necessary, 277 

psychology of, 278*-279 

science, 300-301 
Attitude toward life, new, 59 
Awkward age, 35 

Baseball, 294-295 

Basket-ball, 294 

Big Injun age, 7 

Blood pressure, 47-48 

Bone growth, 45-46 

Book reviews, 233-234 

Brain development, 49-50, 248 

Breathing capacity and training, 55 

Changeableness of adolescence, 29 
Character and life complex, 344 
Character forming and athletics, 279 
Character sketches, 234-235 
Charms and fetishes, 63 
Child psychology, 2 
Civics in junior high school, 149 
Club life and preadolescence, 20 
Collecting propensities of preado- 

lescents, 9 
Commercial curriculum, 206 
Commercialization of adolescent 

nature, 116 
Committee of Ten, 196-197 
Concrete method in junior high 

school, 155 
Conference hours, 175 
Conscience, 338-339 
Constants, 203 

Cooperation in adolescents, 37-38 
Cooperation in social activities, 222 

-223 
Cooperation, training in, 217, 255 
Contradictory moods of adolescents, 

28 
Cost of junior high school, 162-163 



Credit for debating, 263-264 
Criminals born, loi 
Criminal, meaning of, 102 
Criminal out-croppings, loo-ioi 
Crisis of adolescence; 31-32 
Cruelty, 107-108 
Culture, 191-192 
Culture epochs theory, 16-17 
Curriculum, 177-212 

administration, 210 

changes, 185 

definitely planned, 204 

flexibility, 209 

general principles, 188-194 

maker, 181-183, 210-211 

making, 142, 178-179, 210-211 

material, 201 

never ideal, 180 
♦ rich and changing, 196 

storm center, 177-178 

system, 199 

types, 205-208 

Dancing, 226-228 
Debating, 235-236, 248-267 

clubs, programs, 259-260 

credit, 263-264 

dangers, 249-250, 257-258 

interschool, 257-258, 264-267 

instruction, 260-261 

management, 250 

organizations, 258-259 
Democracy, educational back- 
ground, 150 
Democracy, principles of, 364-365 
Development, early and rapid, ^^ 
Development of adolescence, stages, 

34-38 
Diet and digestive troubles, 56 
Diet changes and bone growth, 54 
Doubting attitude, 8^ 



INDEX 



381 



Dramatics, 228-230 
Dramatization, 235 
Dreams and reveries, 83-84 

Early adolescence, 34-36 

determines junior high school, 134 
Early high schools, 168-169 
Education and social conditions, 330 
Education, new definition, 186-187 
Educational procedure determined, i 
Eight-four plan, 128 
Elective subjects in junior high 

school, 1 50-1 5 1 
Elementary to high school, 126-127 
Elements of knowledge and pre- 

adolescence, 19 
Emotion and enthusiasm, 84-85 
Energy of adolescents, 22 
English in curriculum, 202 
English in junior high school, 142- 

144 
Enthusiasm of adolescents, 84-85 
Episcopal church and adolescence, 

24-25 
Errors in studies of adolescence, 

26-30 
Eugenics, 329 

Evangelical churches and adoles- 
cence, 25 
Expression, many forms, 232 
Extensive treatment in junior high 

school, 154 

Fads of preadolescents, 10-12 

Fair dealmg, 354-355 

Fighting, 106-107 

Football, 291-293 

Foreign language curriculum, 207- 

208 
Formal discipline, 185-186 
Formative period, 32-33 



Freedom, 347-348, 365-367 
Functional derangements, 52-53 
Function of adolescent psychology, 3 
Functioning of senses, 66-67 
Functions of high school, 183-184 
Functions of junior high school, 165 

-166 
Fundamental muscles and health, 

56-57 

Games for high-school boys, 291-297 
Games for preadolescents, 12-13 
Gang spirit, in preadolescents, 10- 

12 
Gregariousness, 90-91 
Growth of adolescents, 45-51 
Growth of high schools, 169 

Habits of enjojmient, 221 
Health and adolescence, 51-52 
Health and fundamental muscles, 

56-57 
Health of preadolescents, 18 
Health, science and common-sense, 

57 
Heart growth, 47-48 
Heart strain, 55 

Height during adolescence, 44-45 
Hetero-centric nature of adoles- 
cents, 89 
High school age, 37 

group, 168-176 

growth, 169 

ideal for social training, 1 76 

purpose of, 183-184 
History in junior high school, 149- 

150 
Home economics curriculum, 205- 

206 
Honor and "honor systems," 356- 

358 



382 



INDEX 



Honor code of adolescents, 358-362 
Human development, 7 
Himian nature, 352 
Hygiene of adolescence, 54 
Hygiene of preadolescence, 54 

Ideals of adolescents, 117 

controlled, 122 

determined by conditions, 120 

influence of age, 1 20 

influence of education, 121 

influence of environment, 121 

influence of sex, 1 21-12 2 

influence of social status, 120-121 

origin and meaning, 11 7-1 18 
and the will, 1 19-120 
and youth, 118-119 
Ideas about morality, 344 
Impulses in preadolescence, 17 
Incorrigibility, 104-105 
Independent thinking, 82 
Individual needs, 200 
Infantile love, 76 
Initiative of adolescents, 37 
Insight of preadolescents, 9 
Instincts and imagination, 338 

migratory, 64-65 

of sex long-circuited, 62-63 

shifting, 179-180 

social, 89-96 
Intellectual awakening, 81-82 
Intellectual perspective, 85 
Interschool debating, 264-267 

Journalism, 268-276 
Junior high school, 126-167 

administration, 159-164 

building, 164 

civics. 149-150 

cost, 162-163 

curriculum, 135-136 



Junior high school, curriculum 

material, 140 
definition, 133-134 
early adolescence, 36, 134-135 
efficiency, 135 
English, 142-144 
equipment, 164-165 
functions, 165-166 
fundamental propositions, 136- 

139 
History, 149-150 
history of, 131-133 
mathematics, 146-149 
methods, 135-136 
organization, 159-164 
program of studies, 151-152 
psychology of, 129-130 
remedy, 128-129 
science, 144-146 
social activities, 163 
subject-matter, 136 
teachers, 156-159 
text-books, 165 
Juvenile affection, 76-78 

Knighthood and adolescence, 24 

Larks and adventures, 102-103 
Late adolescence, 37-38 
Leadership of adolescents, 38 
Leadership of adults, 35-36 
Leadership, training in, 217, 254-255 
Life and sex instincts, 65 
Life characteristic of adolescence, 31 
Literary societies, 232-247 

functions, 232-233 
Literature and adolescence, 25 
Love, development of, 75-76 

final stage, 79 

infantile, 76 
Loyalty, 368-371 



INDEX 



383 



Lung development, 48 
Lying, 112 

causes and motives, 11 2-1 15 

effects on society, 115 

Majors, 201 

Mathematics, correlated, 208 
in junior high school, 146-149 

Manual training curriculum, 206- 
207 

Mechanical training and preado- 
lescence, 19 

Membership of organizations, 230- 
231 

Memory of adolescent experiences, 
26 

Mental dangers of adolescence, 61- 
62 

Mental growth and physical ma- 
turing, 58 

Mental growth, irregularity, 58-59 

Mental life and sex instincts, 61 

Mental reconstruction, 58-87 

Methods of appeal, 352-372 

Methods in junior high school, 152- 

153 

suited to preadolescents, 19 
Middle adolescence, 36-37 
Migratory instincts, 64-65 
Minors, 203 
Modem high school, activities of, 

221-222 
Moral aspects of adolescence, 98- 
125 

atmosphere, 347 

difference, 99-100 

education, 335-351 

evolution, 123 

ideas, 344 

instruction, dangers, 345 

training, 219-220 



Moral aspects of adolescence, unrest 

and school work, 100 
Morality and adolescence, 335-336 

in preadolescence, 14 
MoraUty and sex, 335 
Morals, origin of, 338 
Motor center, training, 280-281 
Motive, loyalty, 368-371 
Motives and preadolescence, 16 
Muscle growth, 46-47 
Music in junior high school, 150 

Nature and adolescence, 72 
Nature's appeal to preadolescence, 

18-19 
Nature of high-school group, 168- 

176 
Nerve development, 50-51 
New birth idea, 30-31 
New subjects, 186 
New York high schools, 170 
Novelists' use of sex charms, 63-64 

Obedience and preadolescence, 21 
Organizations of junior high school, 

159-164 
Organizations of preadolescents, 13 
Organizing tendencies of adolescents, 

214 

Parliamentary law, 236 
Perception in preadolescence, 8 
Period of withdrawal, 78-79 
Personal freedom, 123-124 

influence, 124-125 

life, 340-341 
Personality and adolescence, 32-$^^ 

Personality in preadolescence, 15 
Personality, physical center of, 98-^ 
99 



384 



INDEX 



Petty larceny, iio-iii 

Physical basis of new thoughts, 82 

center of personality, 98-99 

characteristics of preadolescents, 
8 

growth, inferences, 53-57 

maturing and mental life, 58 

training, 208 

training in junior high school, 150 
Physiological age, 41 

causes of moral differences, 99- 
100 

changes, 40-57 
Pleasure, 220 
Poetical awakening, 72 
Preadolescence, 7-21 

and boy life, 20 

introduction to adolescence, 7 
Preadolescent desire for facts, 9 

games, 12-13 

health, 18 

impulses, 17 

indifference to sex, 13-14 

knowledge without content, 9 

morahty, 14 

non-social nature, 13 

obedience, 21 

organizations, 13 

perception, 8 

personality, 15 

religion, 15 

savagery, 15 

self-assertion, 14 

sex education, 323 

social characteristics, 10 

sympathy, 15 

traits appear in adolescence, 21 

truthfulness, 21 
Primitive peoples and adolescence, 

23 
Principles of appeal, 352-371 



Principles of curriculum making, 
188-194 

Program of studies in junior high 
school, 1 51-15 2 

Proof, meaning of, 252-253 

Pyschic growth and brain develop- 
ment, 51 

Psychological age, 41 

Psychological aspects of morality, 

337-33^ 
solution of problems, 1-2 
Psychology of adolescence, 2-3, 22- 

125 
Puberty, 40-41 
Puberty, age of, 41-43 
Public speaking, 208 

"briefs," 245-246 

subjects, 239-243 
Punishments, 348-349 
Pupil finance, 302-306 

Questionnaire method and adoles- 
cence, 29-30 

Railroads and the adolescent, 108- 

109 
Reason exercised in debate, 250-251 
Reason in preadolescence, 9 
Rebuttal in debate, 261-263 
Recapitulation theory, 16-17 
Recreation, 22c 
Rectitude, 33^-339 
ReHgion in preadolescence, 15 
Romans and adolescence, 24 
Rules, 347-348 

School paper, 268-276 
faculty adviser, 275 
functions of, 269-270 
management, 273-275 
problems, 270-271 



INDEX 



385 



School paper, responsibility, 276 

staff, 271-272 
School studies, 349-351 
Science in curriculum, 209 

in junior high school, 144-146 
Secretiveness of adolescents, 27 
Self-assertion of preadolescents, 14 
Sense development in adolescence, 

66-75 
Sense functions change, 66-67 
Sequential group, 198 
Sex central factor in adolescence, 

317 
Sex characters, primary and sec- 
ondary, 60 
charms and fetishes, 63-64 
education, 317-334 
education, emphasis in, 319-320 
dangers, 318 

information needed, 325-328 
method of approach, 318-319 
method of teaching, 331-332 
functions, maturing of, 40 
instincts and life, 65 
instincts and mental life, 61 
instincts long-circuited, 62-63 
Sex and morahty, 335 

in preadolescence, 13-14 
Sexual life, change to, 59-60 
Short stories, 234 
Significance of adolescence, 22 
Signs of adolescence, 43-44 
Sin and virtue, struggle, 122-123 
Smell and adolescence, 70 
Soccer, 293-294 
Social activities, 213-231J 
credits, 231 
functions of, 213 
of junior high school, 163 
Social administration, 5 
aspects of morality, 337-338 



Social administration, character- 
istics of adolescents, 88-97 
characteristics of preadolescents, 

10 
conformity, 96-97 . 
education, 213-214 
efficiency, 96 

environment dominant, 88 
heritage, 96 
instincts, 89-96, 216 
needs, 200 
organizations, faculty attitudes, 

214-216 
organizations, number and kind, 

224-225 
psychological treatment, 345-346 
status in high schools, 171 
training in high school, 176 
Sociological solution of problems, 

1-2 
Sounds in nature, 72 
Speaking, extemporary, 236-246 
Spiritual gifts, 341-342 
Stages of adolescent development, 

34-38 
Stealing within family, no 
Stimulation, susceptibility to, 53-54 
Stimuli, responses to change, 73-74 
Stories and preadolescents, 18 
Study of adolescence, 39 
Studies, influence of, 349-351 
Subconscious self, 341 
Suggestive methods with adoles- 
cents, 85-87 
Supervised study, 175-176 
Sympathy, 91-92 
Sympathy in preadolescence, 15 

Tastes and adolescence, 68-70 
Teachers in junior high schools, 156- 
159 



/ 



u 



386 



INDEX 



Ot 



'/h- 



Teaching of morality, 335-337 

Tennis, 296-297 

Text-books for junior high schools, 

i6s 

Thinking, training in, 255-256 
Thought processes, physical basis, 

82 
Thought, realm of, 79-80 
Touch and adolescence, 67-68 
Track events, 295-296 
Training in fair play, 253-254 
Training in initiative, 251-252 
Truancy and running away, 103-104 
Truthfulness and preadolescence, 21 
Twofold life of preadolescent, 20 

Understanding of youth needed, 4 
Unity of individual, 262-264 



Unresponsive period, 80 / ^ 
Upper grades and subject-matter, 

140-141 
Utility, 191-192 

Values determined, 194-195 
Variability in maturing, 41 
Verbal contest, 248 
Vision during adolescence, 72-73 
Visual imagination of preadoles- 

cents, 9 
Voice, care of, 55-56 
Voice changes, 49 
Vocal consciousness, new, 70-71 
Vocational expectation of pupils, 

171-172 

Weight during adolescence, 44-45 



